Legal agency Knights Group predicts double-digit revenue progress
- Knights Group said its underlying pre-tax profits are set to grow to at least £25m
- It also predicts net debt increasing by about £6m to £35.2m due to acquisitions
Result: ‘Our people have delivered a good performance during the year,’ said Knights Group CEO David Beech (pictured)
Legal and professional services firm Knights Group expects to report double-digit profit growth for the last financial year.
The London-listed company said its underlying pre-tax profits are set to have grown by 16 per cent to at least £25million for the year ending April, while revenue is anticipated to have increased by 6 per cent to around £150million.
It also predicts net debt increasing by about £6million to £35.2million due to the acquisitions of St James’ Square and Baines Wilson, and another payment related to the joint venture with sell-side advisory business Convex Corporate Finance.
All three firms are based in northern England, where Knights has significantly expanded its presence over recent years.
Knights told investors it was ‘positioned well to consider selective acquisitions from its healthy pipeline of opportunities’ after enhancing its operational platform during the year.
Its new chairman, Dave Wilson, oversaw 14 takeovers while holding senior positions, including finance director and deputy chief executive, at fraud prevention specialist GB Group.
David Beech, chief executive of Knights, said: ‘Our people have delivered a good performance during the year.
‘We continued to execute our growth strategy, recruiting high-quality talent and driving operational improvements across the business, positioning us well to deliver further growth.’
Knights Group Holdings shares jumped by 8.1 per cent to 153p following the trading update and have soared by around 62 per cent over the past year.
However, shares remained less than half their levels in March 2022, when the firm warned of a slowdown in corporate work and admitted that remote working was damaging trade.
In January, the company revealed it rebounded to organic turnover growth in the six months ending October owing to strong performances in non-cyclical fields, such as private wealth and dispute resolution.
It further announced that pre-tax profits climbed by over two-thirds to £6.9million alongside a 5 per cent hike in its interim dividend to 1.61p per share.
Since then, Knights has seen the time for a business to get paid by one of its clients drop from 31 days to 28 days.
The group plans to give a broader trading update when it releases its annual results in January.
