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RNS Number : 0174R Gateley (Holdings) PLC 15 July 2025
Gateley (Holdings) Plc
("Gateley", the "Group" or the "Company")
AUDITED RESULTS 2025
Strategic focus, operational discipline, positioned for growth
Gateley (AIM: GTLY), the professional services group, announces its audited
results for the year ended 30 April 2025 ("FY25" or the "Period").
Key Financial Highlights
· Diversified business model delivered revenue growth of 4.1%.
· Organic revenue growth in legal services of 3.9%.
· Overall activity levels increased during the year to 87%
(FY24: 83%) despite a challenging professional services market, alongside the
General Election and subsequent uncertainty ahead of the Autumn Budget.
· Underlying operating profit margin maintained at 11.7% (FY24: 11.7%),
reflecting good control of salary and other costs whilst continuing to
prioritise organic and acquisitive investment.
· Net assets decreased by £12.8m to £67.5m (FY24: £80.3m),
including net debt of £(6.6)m (FY24: net cash £3.8m).
· Proposed final dividend of 6.2p (FY24: 6.2p), taking total
dividends for the year to 9.5p per share (FY24: 9.5p).
Headline and underlying FY25 FY24 Change
Group revenue £179.5m £172.5m 4.1%
Group underlying operating profit(1) £20.9m £20.3m 3.3%
Group underlying profit before tax(1) £23.3m £23.0m 1.2%
Underlying adjusted fully diluted EPS(2) 13.31p 14.20p (6.3)%
Dividend per share 9.5p 9.5p -
Net assets £67.5m £80.3m £(12.8)m
Net (debt)/cash(3) £(6.6)m £3.8m £(10.4)m
Reported FY25 FY24 Change
Group profit before tax £6.4m £14.0m (54.4)%
Group profit after tax £1.4m £10.1m (86.5)%
Basic earnings per share ('BEPS') 1.02p 7.74p (86.8)%
(1) Underlying operating profit and underlying profit before tax excludes
remuneration for post-combination services, gain on bargain purchase,
share-based payment charges, acquisition related amortisation and exceptional
items
(2) Adjusted fully diluted EPS excludes remuneration for post-combination
services, gain on bargain purchase, share-based payment charges, acquisition
related amortisation and exceptional items. It also adjusts for the future
weighted average number of expected unissued shares from granted but
unexercised share options in issue based on a share price at the end of the
financial year
(3)
Net (debt)/cash excludes IFRS 16 lease liabilities
Operational highlights
· Continued strategic hiring with 15 new Partners or Partner
equivalents joining during the year. More broadly, we were delighted to make
73 fee earner promotions throughout the Group, of which 16 individuals were
promoted to Partner or Partner equivalent.
· Increase in fee earner productivity as revenue growth was
delivered whilst average fee earner headcount remained in line with the prior
year (FY25:1,066 vs 1,068 in FY24).
· Prior year acquisition of Richard Julian and Associates
Limited ("RJA") has been integrated and is performing well ahead of initial
expectations.
· Continued focus on alignment of stakeholders including through
65% of staff either owning shares or currently participating in the Group's
Restricted Share Awards Plan and Save As You Earn scheme.
· 25 sector awards won through the year, across both legal and
consultancy services; a demonstration of the successful growth of our diverse
professional services model.
· Achieved all 15 responsible business objectives set out in
our 2023/24 Responsible Business Report and launching 15 new objectives in our
fourth annual Responsible Business Report due to be published on 6 August
2025.
Current trading and outlook
· Trading in FY26 is in-line with market expectations 4
(#_ftn1) , reflecting good activity levels as we entered the new year, the
resilience across all four Platforms and the increasing visibility of our
historic growth investments coming through. This gives us confidence as we
move through FY26, however, the Board is conscious that macro indicators
continue to point to ongoing volatile market conditions, at least in the near
term, which we will monitor and adjust for as appropriate.
· We continue to look through potential macro volatility in how
we choose to allocate capital for sustainable, long-term profitable growth,
encouraged by the patient investment made by us in specialist services which
returned well for us in FY25 and are carrying good momentum into FY26. In
parallel, the Board's operational focus is on enhancing existing revenue and
realising operational efficiencies which will further contribute to our
ambition to deliver operating margins to at least 13.5%, over the near term.
Rod Waldie, CEO of Gateley, said:
"FY25 represents another year of revenue and underlying profit growth for
Gateley, set against an unpredictable economic backdrop for much of the year.
We are particularly pleased that this growth was driven by the combination of
positive returns on our recent investments with an increase in activity levels
and active management of cost inflation.
"In-Period highlights include the renewal and increase of our revolving credit
facility to £80m. This is primarily to support further investment in our
diversified growth strategy and our Employee Benefit Trust in facilitating our
equity incentivisation and recirculation strategy. We remain ever alert to
acquisition opportunities that will add value to our diversified portfolio and
build on our successful M&A track record. Despite an increasingly
competitive backdrop, we are confident in the quality of our pipeline , the
rigour of our selective process and we look forward to updating shareholders
in due course.
"Looking forward, the resilience of our diversified model, our strong
financial foundations, and our unbroken track-record of revenue growth,
underpins our confidence. Our long-term strategy of client-focused
investment in people augmented by continued improvements in our internal
structure and technology, will ensure the Group is positioned well to deliver
profitable growth in FY26 and beyond. Whilst we continue to monitor and adjust
in response to the unpredictable environment, the Group is carrying good
momentum into the current financial year.
"Most importantly, I would like to thank our clients for their support and our
dedicated and talented people for their ongoing hard work, commitment and
can-do attitude. We look to the future with confidence."
Enquiries:
Gateley (Holdings) Plc
Neil Smith, Chief Financial Officer Tel: +44 (0) 121 234 0196
Nick Smith, Acquisitions Director and Head of Investor Relations Tel: +44 (0) 20 7653 1665
Cara Zachariou, Communications Director Tel: +44 (0) 121 234 0074 Mob: +44 (0) 7703 684 946
Panmure Liberum - Nominated Adviser and Broker Tel: +44 (0) 20 3100 2000
Nicholas How/Nikhil Varghese
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
I am pleased to present Gateley's audited results for the year ended 30 April
2025. The Group is now larger and more diversified than ever across legal
and professional services, having achieved its tenth consecutive year of
revenue growth since IPO. Revenue has grown by 4.1% year on year to reach
£179.5m, with underlying operating profit growing 3.3% to £20.9m and
underlying profit before tax growing 1.2% to £23.3m, during another period of
investment in the Group's foundations to accelerate profitable growth.
Following my appointment as Chairman on 1 November 2024, I have spent time
with a wide range of our investors, clients, colleagues and wider
stakeholders. As a Group, we have significant untapped potential for
accelerated profitable growth and sustainable margin improvement over the
coming years. We will continue to build on our strong and established
diversified model across our broad legal and professional services offering,
client segments and geographic presence. Delivering this profitable growth
potential is our mission and will benefit all our stakeholders.
Market Context
Gateley has consistently demonstrated the resilience of its business model,
standing shoulder to shoulder with our clients through difficult market
conditions, and creating opportunities to do what we do best: achieving
outstanding positive impact for our clients. Market volatility, weak
investor sentiment, sluggish economic growth and a volatile political and
legislative environment have all created both challenges and opportunities for
the Group.
It is in this context that our clients need independent, trusted advice on
their critical business issues more than ever. Our differentiated model offers
high quality advice and expertise where it matters most.
Professional services are in an era of long-overdue disruption, requiring
nimble and evolving client service, proposition and pricing models, a greater
breadth and depth of cross-domain expertise, faster paced delivery and
relentless focus on quality and client outcomes. Technological advancement,
including the deployment of advanced data science techniques, automation,
digital tools and of course deploying Generative AI and navigating the path
toward Artificial General Intelligence, will all be key battlegrounds for the
sector. At Gateley, we are partnering our leading client service partners with
colleagues from our technology and change teams to target our investments with
great care.
As a Group, we remain nimble, adapting to evolving client and market needs and
technological disruption, and at all times ensuring our clients have ready
access to our talented partners and colleagues. Our values, including being
'forward thinking', 'trusted to do' and most importantly 'ambitious for
success' are more relevant than ever in this market context.
Accelerating and capturing our profitable growth opportunity
Through my time spent with Gateley, it has become clear that this is a Group
with strong foundations for significant and profitable future growth. The
strengths of the diversified model can be evidenced through the progress
already made. This is covered in more detail in the CEO Review below. It is
also clear how much more there is still to come. Underpinning our near-term
and medium-term strategic execution are a number of clear, overarching themes:
· Client proposition - Our teams across the Group do
outstanding work with our clients, and it has been a pleasure to hear and see
such positive feedback from both our legal and consultancy clients.
Investing further in the breadth and depth of our client relationships and
proposition, including at Board level, will further grow our client reach,
creating more, higher value relationships, whilst enhancing client retention.
· Growth investment - Targeted lateral hires and team lift
outs, alongside carefully chosen potential acquisitions, are all assessed
against our return hurdles and their contribution to our client proposition,
capabilities and margin expansion opportunity. As a diversified client-led
Group, we are disciplined in focusing on those opportunities that enhance, or
complement, our existing client proposition.
· Colleague experience - Investing in our people, the lifeblood
of our business, to create a 'cradle to grave' colleague value proposition
that is joyful, high impact, high performance and second to none. Our
performance management, culture and remuneration model, including our unique
equity incentive structures, are all central to this.
· Financial foundations - Enhancing our tools, processes and
systems, from business development, scoping and pricing through to service
delivery, WIP conversion and cash collection. We come from a position of
balance sheet strength, enabling us to strive towards further enhancing our
financial returns and efficiency as we scale up across our platforms.
· Strategic growth - Being equipped to capture the next wave of
profitable growth by client segment, industry, geography and service line. We
are, and will continue to be, patient investors in support of our profitable
growth mission.
Our colleagues
My heartfelt thanks go to all our colleagues across Gateley who have worked so
hard and demonstrated such commitment to our clients. I am struck by how
fortunate we are to have remarkably talented colleagues in both our legal and
consultancy services, bringing the best of Gateley to our clients.
It is particularly impressive to see the colleagues and teams we are
privileged to have leading the way on Gateley's client service, proposition,
profitable growth, margin expansion and business development efforts. We are
committed to establishing Gateley as a truly diverse meritocracy where we have
a positive, inclusive, diverse, results-oriented and merit-based community to
serve our clients, and where rigorous performance management ensures we can
invest in those teams and individuals who are delivering on our profitable
growth objectives.
Dividends
We recognise that our dividend payments are a key component of our total
shareholder return and have maintained our dividend returns to investors while
continuing to invest in our profitable growth strategy. An interim dividend
of 3.3p per share (FY24: 3.3p) was paid on 31 March 2025 to shareholders on
the register at the close of business on 21 February 2025. The Board is
pleased to propose a final dividend of 6.2p per share (FY24: 6.2p), giving a
total dividend for the year of 9.5p per share (FY24: 9.5p), subject to
approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, which will be held on 24
September 2025. If approved, this final dividend will be paid on Friday 14
November 2025 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 10
October 2025. The shares will go ex-dividend on 9 October 2025.
Strengthening our Board, Governance and Risk Management
We recognise that good governance adds material value and mitigates risk for
all our stakeholders. As Chairman, I am focused on ensuring we have an
outstanding Board to bring effective challenge and support in service of this.
In April 2025 we were pleased to welcome Martin Pike to the Board as a
Non-Executive Director. Martin brings outstanding experience from his
executive career in global professional services, followed by a series of
Non-Executive Director roles including at leading FTSE 100 and FTSE 250
companies. Colin Jones stepped down from the Board in April 2025, and we
thank him for his contribution to the Board since September 2023. We will
continue to invest in further refreshing and strengthening our Board
governance over the coming period.
To support our commitment to strong governance and shareholder engagement, for
the first year in our history all members of the Board will stand for
re-election at the upcoming 2025 AGM, and at every future AGM. We will also
hold our AGM in person in London to be closer to many of our investors.
Responsible Business
In September 2024, we published our fourth annual Responsible Business
report. We were delighted to achieve all 15 of our responsible business
targets and are on track toward reducing our CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and
to become net zero by 2040. Our Responsible Business actions focus on the
wellbeing of our employees, on being a force for good in society and within
the communities in which we operate, and by playing our part in protecting and
repairing our planet. We will publish our next Responsible Business Report
covering objectives and activity for FY25 shortly.
Summary and outlook
Gateley's diversified business model has proven resilient, and current trading
is in line with market expectations despite the continuing uncertain economic
environment. Looking forward, the Group is committed to accelerating its
client-led profitable growth strategy through organic and inorganic means,
achieving a higher margin, diverse and growing client offering across our
platforms, client segments, geographic reach and service offering.
Finally, on behalf of the Board, it is my pleasure to thank our clients,
colleagues, investors and wider stakeholders for their support and commitment
to the Group over the past year. We look forward to Gateley's accelerated
profitable growth journey ahead, bringing greater capabilities, to more
clients, in more exciting and value-creating ways than ever.
Edward Knapp
Chairman
14 July 2025
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REVIEW
Introduction
The Group delivered a solid performance in FY25, maintaining Gateley's
unbroken record of year-on-year revenue growth. As always, I am grateful to
our people for their ongoing hard work and commitment to delivering the best
possible outcomes for our clients.
Group revenue grew by 4.1% to £179.5m (FY24: £172.5m), including 2.8%
organic revenue growth. Pleasingly, we saw good returns from historic
investments made in areas such as complex international dispute resolution and
two of our specialist property consultancy businesses. We also saw strong
transactional activity across our corporate transactional teams and our
market-leading housebuilding and construction teams.
Our revenue growth was underpinned by an increase in overall activity levels
from 83% to 87%. Our transactional services teams, particularly on our
Corporate Platform, benefitted from a Q2 spike in activity stimulated by the
lead-in to the Autumn Budget, since when transactional services activity has
held steady. Our more counter-cyclical or economically agnostic business
lines were also strong throughout the year, exampled by a number of our
specialist consultancy practices in the property sector delivering strong
growth. This is in contrast to ongoing challenging market conditions in most
commercial real estate sectors and is a good illustration of the deliberately
designed resilience in our diversified model.
Underlying operating profit increased by 3.3% to £20.9m (FY24: £20.3m).
Underlying profit before tax increased by 1.2% to £23.3m (FY24: £23.0m),
reflecting the impact of lower interest rates on cash balances
There are two themes that underpin both our performance and our strategic
actions through FY25:
1. Our capital allocation policy in action
2. Our active management of our Diversified Group
Our Capital Allocation Policy in action
We remain committed to a disciplined and consistent application of investment
in four main areas to maximise long term value returns for our shareholders
and other key stakeholders.
1. Selective M&A which enhances or expands the range of professional
services in the Group;
2. Organic growth opportunities, particularly in specialist and deep
sector expertise services, where we can deliver high value client solutions
alongside attractive margins;
3. System development for both efficiency and enhanced service delivery;
and
4. Investment in our people to ensure that we attract and retain the
best possible talent, including the support for our Employee Benefit Trust
(EBT) in facilitating internal equity recirculation, which remains a critical
senior employee proposition differentiator for us.
Beyond the above, our priority is to return regular dividends to our
shareholders. The Board is recommending payment of a final dividend for FY25
of 6.2p per share, which would deliver a total dividend of 9.5p, unchanged
versus FY24.
Selective M&A
Since listing in 2015, Gateley has built significant scale and expanded its
range of professional services well beyond its core legal services. Carefully
targeted acquisitions have been an integral part of this diversified growth.
Our proposition remains unique; the ability to deliver complementary legal and
consultancy services to clients in our chosen markets. This focus has seen
consultancy service revenue across the Group growing to £52.0m (FY24:
£49.9m), or 29.0% (FY24: 28.9%) of Group revenue.
The professional services sector remains fragmented and of increasing interest
to private equity backed buyers, which has resulted in a more competitive
M&A landscape during FY25. However, we continue to see and appraise
significant opportunities for further growth on each of our Platforms, via
selective acquisitions across both legal and consultancy services, aided by
the Group's strong balance sheet and recently renewed Revolving Credit
Facility (RCF) of £80m with an accordion option of £20m. We have a clear
framework against which we assess all acquisition opportunities, and the
rigour of our process and return hurdles remain a key aspect of our approach.
Whilst absorption of each acquisition, integration and system costs may
sometimes impact margin in the short term, our track record gives us
confidence that M&A remains a key part of our strategy for long term
margin enhancing returns, evidenced by our latest acquisition, Gateley RJA,
growing year-on-year revenue by 28.0% in Period.
Investment for organic growth
A key focus in Period was investment in, and laying further foundations for,
margin enhancing organic growth. This remains a key part of our look-forward
strategy.
In Period, we made 15 lateral hires at Partner and Partner equivalent level
across the group. In addition, we promoted 16 individuals to Partner or
Partner equivalent, whilst also fully integrating Gateley RJA, which is
performing very well.
We were pleased to see that organic growth investments made in prior years,
which we had previously characterised as patient investment, are bearing
fruit. Most notable was our FY23 investment in legal services Complex
International Dispute Resolution, where we have since been carrying related
cost, but which grew its revenue by 49.8% in FY25 and is carrying good
momentum into FY26.
Our international dispute resolution team sources its work from overseas and
is an example of our deliberate investment and agile reach into appropriate
international opportunities. Alongside this, in Q4 FY25, we invested further
in our services to target markets in the Middle East from our base in Dubai,
where we recruited a team of highly regarded corporate lawyers, the leader of
which now heads our activities in the region. We anticipate further
investment in complementary services in the region and are confident this will
deliver further client, revenue and margin opportunities.
System investment
During FY25, our investment in systems and system development totalled circa
£0.7m including further recruitment of specialists to our in-house AI
development team, which is working on applications for use on each of our
client-facing Platforms and for our business support teams. Whilst this
investment had an impact on margin in FY25, this will drive future margin
improvement as the applications increase our client service levels and
delivery efficiency.
Investment in AI-driven system development remains high on our strategic
agenda and we have established a cross-business steering group reporting
directly to the Board on product assessment, procurement and integration.
Embedding such cutting-edge technology more deeply within our organisational
fabric will positively enhance the delivery of some of our services and
realise efficiencies which will help us improve our profitability.
Investment in people
As a people business, our ability to attract, develop, reward and retain
outstanding people is central to both our strategy and our continued growth.
Our PLC structure enables us to provide a unique combination of cash and
equity incentives to current and new colleagues.
This investment necessarily includes the need to assess our remuneration
structures against the context of a professional services market which has
seen relatively high pay inflation for a number of years. However, there are
tangible signs that this inflation may now be tempering.
Combined with the increase in our average headcount to 1,571 during the Period
(FY24: 1,536), this resulted in a 3.3% increase in overall personnel costs.
Whilst overall average headcount in the Group increased by 2.3% to 1,571
(FY24: 1,536). Legal services average headcount growth was 0.8% to 1,100
employees (FY24: 1,091). In contrast, average consultancy headcount increased
by 5.8% to 471 (FY24: 445).
In a volatile macro environment, it is incumbent on the Board to heighten
performance management across the Group. This includes careful management of
natural people churn, being highly selective about where we hire and early
realisation of operational efficiencies. Personnel cost savings realised in
FY25 will deliver full year savings in FY26. The Board maintains a vigilant
approach in this regard.
Uniquely, and of strategic importance to us in the context of incentivisation,
we continue to regard our Restricted Share Award Plan (RSA Plan) as a powerful
differentiator for us in attracting and retaining the best possible senior
talent. As previously announced, support for the RSA Plan is now a firm
pillar in our capital allocation policy. In October we announced that our
EBT had been funded in order to acquire 2,026,490 shares at £1.38, mainly
from staff who were Partners at the time of our IPO in 2015. Those shares
are warehoused in the EBT to part-satisfy imminent RSA Plan awards, ensuring
that, in line with our strategy, as the Group evolves, a meaningful number of
shares can be re-circulated within the Group and remain in the hands of our
key senior people. The RSA Plan makes our internal equity journey powerfully
different and meaningful.
More broadly, I am delighted that over 65% of our colleagues now own either
shares, share options or Restricted Share Awards in Gateley, supporting a
powerful alignment across all of our key stakeholders.
Our Active Management of our Diversified Group
In the near-term, our operational focus is on driving organic revenues and
realising efficiencies to improve underlying operating profit margin to not
less than 13.5%, which is our key near-term priority. This sits alongside
our constant focus on the basics in our business; consistent delivery of
excellent service, enhancing cross-selling opportunities and winning quality,
profitable new business on each of our Platforms.
Key components in the Group's margin improvement bridge include:
1. Pricing;
2. WIP management and conversion into fees; and
3. Enhanced cross-selling.
We have undertaken a comprehensive review of relevant market data and as a
result, all our Platforms have been challenged with positive resets against
this data which indicates that we can and should make improvements against
each of these areas.
In pricing, WIP management and conversion into fees, market intelligence is
telling us that, taken as a whole, when benchmarked against our competitors,
we have headroom to grow into, while attracting and retaining clients. Current
initiatives to help facilitate improvement include:
· we have recently completed training across all the senior leaders in
our legal services business by the sector's leading pricing and revenue
management consultancy; and
· we have invested in the market-leading pricing and revenue management
software, which will be operational by H2 FY26 and will enable us to better
price and monitor client engagements.
For those parts of the Group that record time, our WIP to fees conversion rate
was 81% in FY25 (FY24: 82%). Each 1% improvement in conversion generates circa
£2.0m of additional fees and this is therefore a key focus for us in FY26.
In cross-selling, we believe that we have significant headroom in offering our
unique combination of complementary legal and consultancy services, as
showcased at our recent senior managers' conference, "Connecting for
Growth". Part-way through FY25, we introduced a new management account
metric to help measure the value of cross-sell activity. This metric has
been further developed for FY26 and will give a full year measure, against
which cross-selling can be incentivised and rewarded.
To further stimulate cross-selling, improve inter-Platform connectivity and
hone performance management, FY26 will see us implement a new Platform
management structure. Each Platform will now operate through a Board on which
each business unit will be represented, reporting into a chairperson
responsible for the Platform's strategic, operational and financial outturn.
This structure will bring our related businesses closer together to realise
external opportunities and internal objectives.
Responsible Business
Being a Responsible Business remains an integral part of our Purpose
Statement;
"Our purpose is to deliver results that delight our clients, inspire our
people and support our communities."
We were pleased to achieve all 15 of our internally set responsible business
targets in 2023/2024 and, in-Period, we published our fourth annual
Responsible Business Report outlining actions taken and setting targets for
2024/2025, in which, so far, we have supported 110 good causes through over
300 separate activities. Our next report will be published imminently.
Highlights from the last report include:
• launch of the Purpose Pod - Gateley's Responsible Business
podcast;
• a new strategic partnership with environmental charity the Heart
of England Forest; and
• an update on the environmental changes made to support its
objective of reaching net zero by 2040.
We are proud of the progress that we have made since publishing our
Responsible Business Strategy in October 2021. We will continue to evaluate
where we are effecting change and how we can improve and progress over time.
Our journey continues with conviction.
Platform performance
Before exploring each Platform in more detail below, we outline the key
positive and negative contributors to our Platform performance in FY25.
Positive:
· Delivering the benefits of our diversified professional
services strategy with growth in three of our four Platforms (Business
Services, Corporate and Property) delivering, in aggregate across these three
Platforms, 5.9% revenue growth in FY25.
· Overall, from a margin perspective, three of our four
Platforms (Business Services, Corporate and People) delivered margin growth,
resulting in 11.7% growth in contribution from these three Platforms.
· The strength of both revenue and margin in our Business
Services platform was particularly pleasing as this reflects the growing
returns from our historic growth investment in legal services dispute
resolution and patent and trademark consultancy services.
Negative:
· The People Platform saw revenue decline by 10.3% in FY25
due to the deliberate, and previously communicated, contraction of our legal
services private client team. However, this expected revenue decline was
partially offset by cost reductions resulting in a lower 5.1% decline in
segment contribution and improved margins to 31.2% (FY24: 29.5%).
· The Property Platform experienced a mixed year,
reflective of the volatile conditions across the UK property market. Strong
performance from our legal services construction and residential development
teams and two of our consultancy businesses were drivers behind the 3.9%
platform revenue growth partially offsetting challenging market conditions
that constrained revenue in the other consultancy businesses. A combination of
overall mix effects, investment in future growth and rationalisation costs in
certain areas saw margins decline to 33.2% (FY24: 36.5%).
Results Business Services Platform Corporate Platform People Platform Property Platform Total
FY25 Revenue (£m) 28.5 39.0 17.5 94.5 179.5
Revenue growth FY25 14.3% 5.3% (10.3)% 3.9% 4.1%
Organic revenue growth FY25 14.3% 5.3% (10.3)% 1.3% 2.8%
FY24 Revenue (£m) 24.9 37.0 19.6 91.0 172.5
FY25 contribution margin 30.5% 41.8% 31.2% 33.2% 34.4%
FY24 contribution margin 30.2% 37.7% 29.5% 36.5% 35.1%
Business Services Platform
This Platform supports clients in dealing with their commercial agreements,
managing risks, protecting assets and resolving disputes.
Revenue grew by 14.3% to £28.5m, underpinned by strong performances in both
the legal services complex international dispute resolution team and the
patent and trademark attorney businesses. Even more pleasing to see was the
increase in contribution margin despite our on-going investment in specialist
service lines.
The dispute resolution teams saw a strong increase in demand from both UK and
overseas clients, including a return of some activity in Central Europe
alongside new mandates from clients in the Middle East and Africa. These are
representative of new, deliberately agile steps to win specialist work in new
overseas markets.
Buoyed by the success in growing dispute resolution services, we continue to
make strategic investment in other specialist service lines, predominantly in
competition litigation, class actions and international arbitration where, in
all cases, we see significant opportunities. Our highly regarded senior
experts in international arbitration are winning quality new work and forging
strong credentials for us. Alongside this, our recently formed specialist
class action team continues to research and build its potential case pipeline
alongside running its existing case.
Our growing patent and trademark attorney businesses were strong throughout
the Period. These deliver resilient, steady-recurring revenues. The teams
are working well together and across related legal services teams elsewhere in
the Group on shared opportunities. We will continue to invest for scale in
these services, where typical projects are long-dated and our expertise is
highly valued by clients whose businesses are founded upon intellectual
property that needs protecting in order to preserve value. We see further UK
and international client opportunities in this area.
Consultancy revenue grew by 3.9% and now represents 23.6% (FY24: 26.9%) of
Business Services Platform revenue.
Corporate Platform
This Platform, dominated by legal services, is focused on the corporate,
financial services and restructuring markets in both transaction and business
support services.
Despite lower volumes of transactional activity during most of FY25, revenue
increased by 5.3% to £39.0m and Corporate remains our strongest margin
contributor at 41.8%.
The corporate, banking and tax transactional teams benefitted from a spike in
activity during the post-Election, pre-Autumn Budget period. Deal volumes and
deal quality was impressive, across multiple sectors and this cascaded work
through to other Platforms. Whilst initial indications are that the Autumn
Budget has done little to encourage UK growth, transactional services activity
remains good, in parallel with which our counter-cyclical restructuring
advisory unit grew revenue by 7.5% in FY25, ahead of the Platform as a
whole. Mandates have been generated both in-market and internally, including
working alongside experts in Gateley Vinden and our legal services
construction unit in delivery of market-leading services to insurers who have
bonded construction projects that have become distressed. Our banking team
also had a very busy last few months and posted 16.0% revenue growth in
year. Overall, current activity is good across all teams in this Platform.
We saw in-Period lateral partner hires to our corporate, tax and restructuring
teams, reflecting our commitment to further enhance the quality of our offer
across the Platform.
Consultancy revenue grew by 255% and now represents 5.0% (FY24: 1.5%) of
Corporate Services Platform revenue. The Platform's sole consultancy business,
Gateley Global, continues to be a good cross-referrer of opportunities across
the Group whilst it significantly increased its like-for-like revenue in
Period. It's key in-Period client was the West Midlands Combined Authority
(WMCA) which it helped to support its High Growth Accelerator Programme. The
Group's broad range of professional services was a key factor in this win.
People Platform
This Platform supports clients in dealing with and developing people and in
administering individuals' personal affairs.
Revenue on this Platform contracted by 10.3%, mainly due to a deliberate
significant contraction in our legal services private client team, where we
have reduced scale and re-focused on core services to high-net-worth clients
supported by the appointment of a private client Chartered Tax Advisor. Our
re-cast private client offer is stabilising as we enter FY26.
Although in-Period revenue in T-three and Kiddy & Partners, our talent
assessment, development and cultural change consultancy businesses contracted,
they continue to attract significantly sized clients buying dual services,
with particular focus on scalable products to high growth clients.
In the meantime, we saw a good performance from our legal services pension
team and our pension trustee business, Entrust which, together, grew revenue
by 11.7%. These teams generate relatively predictable revenue streams and are
a further example of deliberately designed resilience in our model. The
pensions sector is a space in which we are keen to make further investment to
service the increasing number of pension schemes looking to complete all
liability buy-outs, and/or out-source management of their pension schemes to
organisations like Entrust.
Consultancy revenue contracted by 10.0% but still represents 30.9% (FY24:
30.8%) of the People Platform revenue.
Property Platform
This Platform is focused on clients' activities in real estate development and
investment and in the built environment in the widest sense.
This remains our most diverse and mature Platform and we maintain our view
that the range of expertise now housed on this Platform puts us in a strong
position to compete directly with the well-established, multi-disciplinary
property consultancies. Despite a challenging backdrop for the property sector
generally, revenue on our Property Platform grew by 3.9% to £94.5m during
FY25 (FY24: £91.0m) with organic growth of 1.3%. Contraction in margin
contribution is attributable to reduced activity in some segments of the
Platform which have been, or are, being rationalised and strategic investment
in headcount in some of our busy, specialist teams.
In commercial real estate, despite a continuing caution dominating for most of
the year, we still generated a 3.2% like-for-like revenue increase. We
maintain a focus on both investment and development work and remain a
market-leader in the warehousing and distribution sector. Rationalisation of
parts of our commercial real estate team, allied to other operational
efficiencies in play, will improve overall margin contribution going
forward.
Whilst transactional activity in the wider commercial property market has
declined over the last few years, we continue to see an increase in
non-transactional advisory and dispute resolution services. This includes
helping our wide range of residential development clients navigate regulation
under the high-profile Building Safety Act (post-Grenfell) and advising on
related remediation projects. This is long-dated, specialist work in which we
continue to invest. Our construction team had another record year and activity
levels remain good. Elsewhere, prevailing market conditions have resulted in
an increase in work relating to the exit of commercially onerous contracts.
In our house-builder team, we continue to act for all of the top developers,
many of whom have consolidated their adviser panels in favour of larger
providers, such as Gateley, who cover all the key requirements. This should
result in more work for the team, allied to perceived tailwinds in the
Government's housing policy. Therefore, we continue to invest in both
headcount and system development for this team to maintain its market-leading
position. Our clients need to continue to build and sell and have other areas
for which they require our services. This includes shared ownership
framework agreements, bulk sales to housing associations and build-to-rent
investors and housing-led urban regeneration. Our unique combination of legal
and consultancy services offers whole project life cycle advice to our
clients.
In consultancy services, Gateley Smithers Purslow ("GSP"), who deliver
specialist services to the property insurance major loss claims market,
contributed revenue of £19.5m (FY24: £17.6m), representing annualised growth
for that business of 10.3%.
Our acquisition of surveyors Richard Julian and Associates Limited ("RJA"), in
July 2023 extended our reach to organisations that deliver affordable housing,
a resilient sector underpinned by high levels of grant to support delivery of
the Government's housing targets. RJA also has specialists in major loss
property claims, which enhances related expertise in both GSP and Gateley
Vinden. RJA has had an excellent first full year in Group, as annualised
revenues grew on a like-for-like basis by 28.0%.
Consultancy revenue grew by 2.8% and now represents 40.1% (FY24: 40.4%) of the
Property Platform revenue.
Current trading and outlook
Trading to date in FY26 is in-line with market expectations, reflecting good
activity levels as we enter FY26, the resilience across all four Platforms and
the increasing visibility of our historic growth investments coming through.
This gives us confidence as we move through FY26, however, the Board is
conscious that macro indicators continue to point to ongoing volatile market
conditions, at least in the near term, which we will monitor and adjust for as
appropriate.
We continue to look through potential macro volatility in how we choose to
allocate capital for sustainable, long-term profitable growth, encouraged by
the patient investment made by us in specialist services which returned well
for us in FY25 and are carrying good momentum into FY26. In parallel, the
Board's operational focus is on enhancing existing revenue and realising
operational efficiencies which will further contribute to our ambition to
deliver operating margins to at least 13.5%, over the near term.
Our uniquely diverse business model has proved its designed resilience
consistently since its inception in 2015. Looking forward, we remain committed
to further accelerating our growth both organically and in-organically through
appropriately flexed investment in-line with strategy and disciplined active
management, all focused upon enhancing returns to our key stakeholders.
Rod Waldie
Chief Executive Officer
14 July 2025
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER'S REVIEW
Financial overview
The Group has again grown revenue and carefully managed its costs throughout
FY25.
In an increasingly cost-conscious market and challenging economic environment,
we have successfully maintained our adjusted operating profit margin alongside
strengthened activity levels across all four Platforms, we enter FY26 feeling
confident of improved profitability set against a near-term margin improvement
plan.
We have increased our access to debt for further growth and expansion of the
Group. Renewal of our revolving credit facility to £80m was a significant
task to complete in the last month of our financial year but we were pleased
to double the number of supportive lenders to the business from two to four.
Revenue and activity levels
Group total revenue grew by 4.1% (FY24: 6.0%) to £179.5m (FY24: £172.5m),
including 2.8% organically. Revenue from core legal service lines grew
organically by 2.2% (FY24: 0.8%) predominantly due to the £3.6m increase in
revenue in the Business Services platform, while organic revenue growth from
consultancy businesses was 4.5% (FY24: 9.1%). Consultancy revenues of £52.0m
(FY24: £49.9m) now represent 29.0% (FY24: 28.9%) of total revenue,
demonstrating our strategy to build and diversify into a broader professional
services group, and further enhance our unique offering to clients.
Fee earner utilisation levels during FY25 increased to 87% (FY24: 83%).
Business Corporate People Property Total
Services £m £m £m £m
£m
Activity levels by Platform
FY25 80% 86% 92% 89% 87%
FY24 78% 80% 75% 88% 83%
FY23 84% 83% 76% 95% 89%
Costs and margins
As activity levels improve and the mix of work benefits from increased returns
from new areas of investment, and enhanced levels of recurring revenue, we are
starting to see prior year fee rate increases work through into improved
recoveries. This, alongside a greater focus on governance, systems and
training in price setting and negotiation, will continue to progressively
increase margin returns.
Average staff headcount has increased by 2.3% from 1,536 to 1,571 total
staff. Average professional staff headcount within this period have
decreased slightly by 1,068 to 1,066. So, whilst overall headcount grew
modestly, greater returns were generated from our staff base as shown by the
earlier increased utilisation.
Personnel costs as a percentage of revenue in FY25 reduced to 62.4% (FY24:
62.9%), excluding IFRS 2 share-based payment charges of £1.4m (FY24: £1.6m)
and staff reorganisation costs of £1.9m (FY24: £1.2m) which are both
disclosed as non-underlying items. We continue to sensibly manage this key
metric as market conditions improve.
Other operating expenses increased from 22.5% in FY24 to 23.1% in FY25, due
mainly to the investment in IT systems, ancillary costs overheads relating to
higher employee numbers, inflationary cost rises and a full year cost
contribution from RJA.
Underlying operating profit
The Group recorded £20.9m of underlying operating profit (FY24: £20.3m).
Whilst we have continued to strategically invest across the business in our
legal and consultancy teams, the decrease in personnel costs as a percentage
of revenue has fully offset the increase in overheads referred to earlier. Our
underlying trading margins have stabilised at 11.7% (FY24: 11.7%) as we see
our historic and current internal initiatives start to reverse the trend of
recent years and we look forward to enhancing margins in the future.
Underlying operating profit excludes amortisation of acquisition related
intangibles, all share-based charges and exceptional acquisition related
items, including the acquisition accounting treatment of consideration
payments on acquisitions being reclassified as employment costs in the income
statement, as well as gains on bargain purchases arising from the related
acquisition accounting. Underlying operating profit has been calculated as
an alternative performance measure in order to provide a more meaningful
measure and year-on-year comparison of the profitability of the underlying
business.
There has been an acceleration of un-expensed contingent consideration treated
as remuneration following the successful integration and transition to the
retained management teams in GSP and RJA, arising from the retirement of a key
shareholder in each that was present on acquisition. This will result in lower
than forecast contingent consideration treated as remuneration costs in FY26
and FY27.
Extract of UK statement of comprehensive income 2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Revenue 179,499 172,492
Operating profit 3,982 11,177
Operating profit margin (%) 2.2 6.48
Reconciliation to alternative performance measure: underlying operating profit
Operating profit 3,982 11,177
Non-underlying items
Amortisation of intangible assets 2,696 2,483
Share based payment charge - Gateley Plc 1,375 1,625
Share based payment charge - Gateley RJA Limited - 61
Contingent consideration treated as remuneration 10,928 6,956
Gain on bargain purchase - (3,609)
Acquisitions costs 13 37
Reorganisation costs 1,924 1,159
One off remuneration charge - Gateley RJA Limited - 367
Underlying operating profit 20,918 20,256
Adjusted underlying operating profit margin (%) 11.7 11.7
Earnings Per Share (EPS)
Basic EPS decreased by 86.8% to 1.02p (FY24: 20.8% to 7.74p). Basic EPS
before non-underlying and exceptional items decreased by 7.5% to 13.34p (FY24:
decreased by 13.7% to 14.42p). Diluted EPS decreased by 86.6% to 1.02p (FY24:
increased by 19.9% to 7.63p). Diluted EPS before non-underlying and
exceptional items decreased by 6.3% to 13.31p (FY24: decreased by 12.8% to
14.20p).
Share option schemes
Over 65% of our people are existing share or option holders in the Group.
The Board remains committed to providing its people with the opportunity to
own shares in the Company primarily through the continued issuance of
restricted shares awards ("RSAs") across senior leaders within the Group and
our Save As You Earn ("SAYE") all staff share scheme. Such share ownership
promotes strong alignment with the Group's external shareholders, improves our
attraction to like-minded recruits and is reflective of Gateley's culture of
long-term ownership. The RSAs, which vest on receipt, are subject to a
five-year non-dealing restriction and are forfeited should employment cease
within that period.
Long-Term Incentive Plan awards ("LTIP") over 837,500 Ordinary Shares failed
to vest on 27 April 2025 following the conclusion of LTIP awards due to profit
related performance conditions not meeting the minimum 5% threshold
required. Vesting period decline for 27 April 2022 LTIP awards was 8.5%
being the movement between 14.54p in FY22 and 13.31p for FY25.
Profits used to calculate underlying EPS each year are disclosed below:
2025 2024 2023 2022
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Reported profit after tax 1,365 10,074 12,240 23,023
Adjustments for non-underlying and exceptional items:
Amortisation of acquired intangible assets 2,696 2,483 2,073 1,581
Share-based payment adjustments 1,375 1,686 1,984 1,213
Contingent consideration treated as remuneration 10,928 6,956 6,190 3,509
Gain on bargain purchase - (3,609) (1,389) (12,380)
Reorganisation costs 1,924 1,159
One off remuneration costs - 367 - -
Acquisition-related costs 13 37 - 870
Tax impact of above (484) (391) (168) (94)
Underlying profit after tax 17,817 18,762 20,930 17,722
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for calculating diluted earnings 133,888,191 132,107,953 128,527,341 121,893,238
per share
13.31p 14.20p 16.28p
Underlying adjusted fully diluted EPS 14.54p
Taxation
The Group's tax charge for the Period was £5.0m (FY24: £3.9m) which
comprised a corporation tax charge of £5.8m (FY24: £4.4m) and a deferred tax
credit of £0.8m (FY24: credit of £0.5m).
The deferred tax credit arises due to a combination of credits in respect of
the share schemes that have vested in past years and the release of deferred
tax on brands. The total effective rate of tax is 78.5% (FY24: 27.8%) based on
reported profits before tax. The increase in the effective rate of tax is as
a result of the acceleration of earn-out related consideration remuneration
charges, which is not allowable for corporation tax purposes.
The net deferred taxation liability has decreased to £1.8m (FY24: £2.6m) as
a result of the unwinding of the deferred tax liabilities in respect of
acquired intangible assets.
Dividend
The Group paid an interim dividend of 3.3p share on 31 March 2025 and proposes
a final dividend at the Company's Annual General Meeting on 24 September 2025
of 6.2p (FY24: 6.2p) per share, which if approved, will be paid on 14 November
to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 10 October 2025.
The shares will go ex-dividend on 9 October 2025.
Balance sheet
The Group's net asset position has decreased by £12.8m (FY24: £2.2m) to
£67.5m (FY24: £80.3m), due to the following movements:
There was a £11.3m decrease in total non-current assets from continued usage
of right of use assets, ongoing amortisation of intangible assets and goodwill
and an acceleration of prepaid consideration due to early retirement of
vendors in Gateley Smithers Purslow and Gateley RJA.
There was a £6.8m decrease is total current assets, resulting from £3.5m
reduction of trade and other receivables mainly as a result of prepaid
consideration release, £4.6m decrease in cash held at the year end and a
£1.3m increase in the value of contract assets ("unbilled revenue").
Total liabilities decreased by £5.3m primarily due to the reduction in total
lease liabilities.
The Board has carefully considered the impact of macro-economic uncertainties,
on the future forecasts used in assessing the value in use of the cash
generating units to which the goodwill and intangibles relate and determined
that, despite short term reductions, such forecasts are more than sufficient
to justify the carrying value of goodwill. Therefore, as at 30 April 2025, the
board concluded that the goodwill and intangible assets do not require
impairment.
The Group has £46.8m (FY24: £61.6m) of retained earnings to carry forward in
support of future dividends.
Cash flow
During the year, the Group increased its usage of its Revolving Credit
Facility from £13m to £19m. The renewed facility provides total committed
funding of £80m until April 2028 with a £20m accordion and an optional
two-year extension. We are also pleased, as a result of the renewal, to now
be working with Barclays and NatWest banks in addition to our existing banking
relationships with Bank of Scotland and HSBC UK. The new facility is
specifically earmarked to fund growth and expansion via acquisition together
with supporting the Group's internal recirculation of equity strategy.
Interest is payable on the loan at a margin of 1.25% above the SONIA reference
rate.
Net cash inflows from operating activities decreasing to £13.4m (from £18.9m
in FY24) due to the return of staff bonus payments for the FY24 year that were
paid in FY25 and reflected in a decrease in trade and other payables.
The Group ended the year with net debt of £6.6m (FY24: net cash £3.8m), as
cash was used for equity recirculation and expansion of the group as shown in
movements within working capital. Working capital was supported by a small
improvement in debtor days.
Interest income reduced as a result of the fall in bank interest rates which
alongside an increase in capital expenditure on leased premises and further
outflows to RJA following successful earn out achievement, all contributed to
the reduction in free cashflow in the year.
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Net cash generated from operations 13,356 18,887
Tax paid (5,423) (4,902)
Net interest received 3,471 4,043
Cash outflow from IFRS 16 leases (rental payments excluded (5,376) (5,091)
from operating cash flows under IFRS 16)
Cash outflow paid on acquisitions 401 5,825
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (1,526) (1,045)
Free cash flow 4,903 17,717
Profit after tax 1,365 10,074
Free cash flow (%) 359.2% 175.9%
Adjusted free cash flow 2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Profit after tax 1,365 10,074
Non-underlying operating items 14,999 7,516
Exceptional items 1,937 1,563
Underlying profit after tax 18,301 19,153
Adjusted free cash flow 26.8% 92.5%
Overall, I am pleased we have made further progress in debt collection and
that working capital levels have decreased overall on the previous year by 4
days, despite a challenging market. Unbilled revenue represented 58 days of
pro-forma net revenue compared to 61 days last year, and Group debtor days
have decreased to 110 days of pro-forma net revenue from 111 days last year,
which includes revenue from acquisitions on a full year pro-forma basis. We
have made a good start to collections in FY26. Unbilled revenue recognised in
the Group's statutory accounts, from time recorded on non-contingent work,
remains low as a percentage of revenue and totalled just £24.9m or 13.9% of
revenue recognised over the year (FY24: £23.5m or 13.6%).
Summary
With activity levels increasing, good cost management, underlying operating
profit margins stabilising and the Group's recent investments starting to
return we look forward to FY26 positively. Our recent acquisitions are
performing well against their earn out targets and although we have
rationalised some specific areas due to their subdued end markets, we feel
confident about forecasting margin improvement in the near term.
This improvement will be supported by significant energy, focus and insight
from our existing and new IT systems, AI and the drive towards greater
efficiencies throughout the group that are laser-focused on margin and cash
generation.
Share ownership rewards for our staff continue to play a significant part in
our vision of wider, long-term connectivity across the Group and will deliver
a significant opportunity to all staff in FY26 and beyond.
Neil Smith
Chief Financial Officer
14 July 2025
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF PROFIT AND LOSS AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
for the year ended 30 April 2025
Note 2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Revenue 3 179,499 172,492
Other operating income 224 153
Personnel costs, excluding IFRS 2 charge 5 (112,062) (108,490)
Depreciation - Property, plant and equipment 11 (1,303) (1,140)
Depreciation - Right-of-use asset 11 (4,034) (3,949)
Impairment of trade receivables and contract assets (1,684) (591)
Other operating expenses, excluding non-underlying and exceptional items (39,722) (38,219)
Operating profit before non-underlying and exceptional items 4 20,918 20,256
Non-underlying operating items 4 (14,999) (7,516)
Exceptional items 4 (1,937) (1,563)
(16,936) (9,079)
3,982 11,177
Operating profit 4
Financial income 7 4,770 4,999
Financial expense 7 (2,389) (2,221)
Profit before tax 6,363 13,955
Taxation 8 (4,998) (3,881)
Profit for the year after tax attributable to equity holders of the parent 1,365 10,074
Other comprehensive income
Items that are or may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss
- Revaluation of other investments (196) 129
- Exchange differences on translation of a foreign branch (141) (20)
Profit for the financial year and total comprehensive income all attributable 1,028 10,183
to equity holders of the parent
Statutory Earnings per share
Basic 9 1.02p 7.74p
Diluted 9 1.02p 7.63p
The results for the periods presented above are derived from continuing
operations.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AT 30 APRIL 2025
Note
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 11 1,806 1,583
Right of use asset 11 21,131 23,621
Investment property - 164
Deferred tax asset 19 566 373
Intangible assets & goodwill 12 11,072 13,768
Other intangible assets 13 222 647
Trade and other receivables 15 2,559 8,368
Other investments 115 275
Total non-current assets 37,471 48,799
Current assets
Contract assets 14 24,886 23,543
Trade and other receivables 15 70,576 74,105
Cash and cash equivalents 20 12,081 16,674
Total current assets 107,543 114,322
Total assets 145,014 163,121
Non-current liabilities
Other interest-bearing loans and borrowings 16 (18,685) -
Lease liability 22 (21,552) (24,178)
Deferred tax liability 18 (2,409) (2,968)
Provisions 19 (2,730) (3,725)
Total non-current liabilities (45,376) (30,871)
Current liabilities
Other interest-bearing loans and borrowings 16 - (12,908)
Trade and other payables 17 (25,935) (33,112)
Lease liability 22 (4,230) (4,346)
Provisions 19 (175) (175)
Current tax liabilities (1,794) (1,378)
Total current liabilities (32,134) (51,919)
Total liabilities (77,510) (82,790)
NET ASSETS 67,504 80,331
EQUITY
Share capital 21 13,370 13,304
Share premium 424 35
Merger reserve (9,950) (9,950)
Other reserve 19,754 19,383
Treasury reserve (2,647) (4,012)
Translation reserve (212) (71)
Retained earnings 46,765 61,642
TOTAL EQUITY 67,504 80,331
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
Share Share Merger Other Treasury reserve Retained Foreign currency translation reserve Total
capital premium reserve reserve earnings Equity
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
At 1 May 2023 12,664 11,846 (9,950) 15,413 (677) 48,867 (51) 78,112
Comprehensive income:
Profit for the year - - - - - 10,074 - 10,074
Revaluation of other investments - - - - - 129 - 129
Exchange rate differences - - - - - (20) (20)
Total comprehensive income - - - - - 10,203 (20) 10,183
Transactions with owners
recognised directly in equity:
Issue of share capital 640 1,919 - 3,970 - - 6,529
Cancellation of share premium account - (13,730) - - - 13,730 - -
Purchase of own shares at nominal value (166) - (166)
Sale of treasury shares - - - - 4 - - 4
Purchase of treasury shares - - - - (3,339) - - (3,339)
Recognition of tax benefit on gain from equity settled share options - - - - - (343) - (343)
Dividend paid - - - - - (12,335) - (12,335)
Share based payment transactions - - - - - 1,686 - 1,686
Total equity at 30 April 2024 13,304 35 (9,950) 19,383 (4,012) 61,642 (71) 80,331
At 1 May 2024 13,304 35 (9,950) 19,383 (4,012) 61,642 (71) 80,331
Comprehensive income:
Profit for the year - - - - - 1,365 - 1,365
Revaluation of other investments - - - - - (196) - (196)
Exchange rate differences - - - - - - (141) (141)
Total comprehensive income - - - - - 1,169 (141) 1,028
Transactions with owners
recognised directly in equity:
Issue of share capital 66 389 - 371 - - - 826
Purchase of treasury shares - - - - (2,799) - - (2,799)
Share options exercised by employees - - - - 4,164 (4,164) - -
Recognition of tax benefit on gain from equity settled share options - - - - - (90) - (90)
Dividend paid - - - - - (12,498) - (12,498)
Share based payment transactions - - - - - 706 - 706
Total equity at 30 April 2025 13,370 424 (9,950) 19,754 (2,647) 46,765 (212) 67,504
The following describes the nature and purpose of each reserve within equity:
Share premium - Amount subscribed for share capital in excess of nominal value
together with gains on the sale of own shares and the difference between
actual and nominal value of shares issued by the Company in the acquisition of
trade and assets.
Merger reserve - Represents the difference between the nominal value of shares
acquired by the Company in the share for share exchange with the former
Gateley Heritage LLP members and the nominal value of shares issued to acquire
them.
Other reserve - Represents the difference between the actual and nominal value
of shares issued by the Company in the acquisition of subsidiaries.
Treasury reserve - Represents the repurchase of shares for future distribution
by Group's Employee Benefit Trust.
Retained earnings - All other net gains and losses and transactions with
owners not recognised anywhere else.
Foreign currency translation reserve - Represents the movement in exchange
rates back to the Group's functional currency of profits and losses generated
in foreign currencies.
CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDED 30 APRIL 2025
Note
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit for the year after tax 1,365 10,074
Adjustments for:
Depreciation and amortisation 11/12/13 8,458 8,015
Financial income 7 (4,770) (4,999)
Financial expense 7 1,299 1,170
Interest charge on capitalised leases 7 1,090 1,051
Equity settled share-based payments 6 706 1,686
Gain on bargain purchase 4 - (3,609)
Acquisition related earn-out remuneration charge 4 10,928 6,956
Earn-out consideration paid - acquisition of subsidiary (401) (3,790)
Initial consideration paid on acquisitions - (2,035)
Tax expense 8 4,998 3,881
23,673 18,400
Increase in trade and other receivables (2,328) (10,658)
(Decrease)/increase in trade and other payables (6,994) 8,642
(Decrease)/increase in provisions 19 (995) 2,503
Cash generated from operations 13,356 18,887
Tax paid (5,423) (4,902)
Net cash flows from operating activities 7,933 13,985
Investing activities
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment 11 (1,526) (1,045)
Cash acquired on business combinations - 1,239
Interest received 7 4,770 4,999
Net cash generated from investing activities 3,244 5,193
Financing activities
Interest paid 7 (1,299) (956)
Lease repayments (5,376) (5,091)
Receipt of new revolving credit facility, net of refinancing costs 20 5,777 6,000
Proceeds from sale of own shares - 4
Acquisition of own shares by Employee Benefit Trust (2,799) (3,339)
Cash received for shares issued on exercise of SAYE/CSOP options 425 2,108
Dividends paid 10 (12,498) (12,335)
Net cash used in financing activities (15,770) (13,609)
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (4,593) 5,569
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 16,674 11,105
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 20 12,081 16,674
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
1. Basis of preparation and material accounting policies
The financial information set out in this financial results announcement does
not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 435 of the Companies
Act 2006. The consolidated statement of comprehensive profit and loss and
other comprehensive income, consolidated statement of financial position,
consolidated statement of change in equity, consolidated statement of
cashflows and the associated notes have been extracted from the Group's
financial statements for the year ended 30 April 2025, upon which the
auditor's opinion is unqualified and does not include any statement under
section 498 of the Companies Act 2006. The statutory accounts for the year
ended 30 April 2025 will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following
the Annual General Meeting.
These condensed preliminary financial statements for the year ended 30 April
2025 have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies as set out in
the 2025 financial statements.
While the financial information included in this preliminary announcement has
been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of
International Financial Reporting Standards, this announcement does not itself
contain sufficient information to comply with those standards. The Group
expects to publish full financial statements that comply with International
Financial Reporting Standards in September 2025.
1.1 Statement of Directors responsibilities
The Directors confirm that, to the best of their knowledge, this condensed set
of consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the
AIM Rules.
1.2 Cautionary statement
This document contains certain forward-looking statements with respect of the
financial condition, results, operations and business of the Group. Whilst
these statements are made in good faith based on information available at the
time of approval, these statements and forecasts inherently involve risk and
uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that
will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause the
actual results of developments to differ materially from those expressed or
implied by these forward-looking statements and forecasts. Nothing in this
document should be construed as a profit forecast.
2. Going concern
Having reviewed the Group's forecasts, which includes an analysis of both
short term cash flow
forecasts and longer term cash flow forecasts, the risk and uncertainties
surrounding the current and
future demand for legal services, and other reasonably possible variations in
trading performance, mitigating actions available to management the Group
expects to be able to operate within the Group's financing facilities.
The Group's business activities, together with the factors likely to affect
its future development, performance and position, are set out in the Chief
Financial Officer's review, together with the financial position of the Group,
its cash flows, liquidity position and borrowings. Financial projections have
been prepared to October 2026 which show positive earnings and cash flow
generation. The Group typically applies sensitivities (informed by the past
experiences of the Group since the onset of the pandemic, including the
Group's time recording activity, fee generation and cash collections) to any
current financial projections based on various downside scenarios to
illustrate the potential impact from a downturn in client activity or any
increases in costs.
This process included a reverse 'stress test' used to inform downside testing
which identified the break point in the Group's liquidity. Whilst the
sensitivities applied do show an expected downside impact on the Group's
financial performance in future periods, in all scenarios modelled the board
have identified the appropriate mitigating actions in order for the Group to
maintain a robust balance sheet and liquidity position. In addition, the
board have also considered mitigating actions such as lower capital
expenditure, reductions in personnel and overhead expenditure and other
short-term cash management activities within the Group's control as part of
their assessment of going concern.
The Group continues to work closely with its supportive banks, extending the
club of banks when renewing the three-year revolving credit facility in
period, of which £19m was drawn down at 30 April 2025, with committed funding
of £80m through to April 2028. As at 30 April 2025 the Group has net debt of
£(6.6)m and continues to sensibly manage its cash position within permitted
covenants relating to its facility.
The Group expects to be able to operate within the Group's existing financing
facilities for the foreseeable future and currently demonstrates significant
debt capacity headroom based on its strong financial performance.
Accordingly, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company and
the Group have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the
foreseeable future and at least 12 months from the approval of these financial
statements.
Accordingly, the Directors continue to adopt the going concern basis of
accounting in preparing the financial statements.
3. Revenue and operating segments
The Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") is the Strategic Board. The Group
have the following four strategic divisions, comprising both legal and
consultancy services, which are its reportable segments, and referred to as
it's platforms.
The following summary describes the operations of each reportable segment as
reported up to 30 April 2025 and also the new service lines:
Reportable segment/Platforms Legal service lines Consultancy service lines
Corporate Banking GEG Services
Corporate Gateley Global
Restructuring advisory
Taxation
Business services Austen Hays Adamson Jones
Commercial Dispute Resolution Symbiosis IP
Complex International Litigation
IP and commercial
Regulatory
Reputation, media and privacy law
People Employment Entrust Pension
Pension Kiddy and Partners
Private client T-three
Property Real Estate Capitus
Residential Development Hamer/Persona
Construction RJA
Planning Smithers Purslow
Real Estate Dispute Resolution Vinden
The revenue and operating profit are attributable to the principal activities
of the Group. A geographical analysis of revenue is given below:
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
United Kingdom 167,803 156,760
Europe 5,402 9,016
Middle East 1,205 1,797
North and South America 1,871 2,478
Asia 2,352 1,878
Other 866 563
179,499 172,492
The Group has no individual customers that represent more than 10% of revenue
in either the 2025 or 2024 financial year. The Group's assets and costs are
predominately located in the UK save for those assets and costs located in the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) via its Dubai subsidiary. Net Group assets of
£0.07m (2024: Net Group assets of £0.09m) are located in the Group's Dubai
subsidiary. Revenue generated by the Group's Dubai subsidiary to customers
in the UAE totalled £1.20m (2024: £1.80m) as disclosed above as due from the
customers in the Middle East.
2025
Business Services Corporate People Property Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Segment revenue from services 6,456 16,677 7,103 19,667 49,903
transferred at a point in time
Segment revenue from services 21,995 22,334 10,438 74,829 129,596
transferred over time
Total segmental revenue 28,451 39,011 17,541 94,496 179,499
Segment contribution (as reported 8,668 16,321 5,475 31,392 61,856
internally)
Costs not allocated to segments:
Other operating income 224
Personnel costs (19,849)
Depreciation and amortisation (8,458)
Other operating expenses (15,551)
Share based payment charges (1,375)
Consideration treated as (10,928)
remuneration
Exceptional items (1,937)
Net financial expense 2,381
Profit for the financial year before taxation 6,363
2024
Business Corporate People Property Total
segments
Services
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Segment revenue from services 5,648 15,845 7,918 18,936 48,347
transferred at a point in time
Segment revenue from services 19,241 21,219 11,636 72,049 124,145
transferred over time
Total segmental revenue 24,889 37,064 19,554 90,985 172,492
Segment contribution (as reported 7,523 13,975 5,772 33,240 60,510
internally)
Costs not allocated to segments:
Other operating income 153
Personnel costs (18,087)
Depreciation and amortisation (8,015)
Other operating expenses (16,788)
Share based payment charges (1,686)
Gain on bargain purchase 3,609
Contingent consideration treated as (6,956)
remuneration
Exceptional items
(1,563)
Net financial expense 2,778
Profit for the financial year before taxation 13,955
Group entities may be engaged on a contingent basis; in such cases the Group
considers the satisfaction of the contingent event as the sole performance
obligation within the contract. Fees are only billed once the contingent event
has been satisfied. The initial financing of these engagements is met by the
Group. Due to the nature and timing of the billing, such engagements influence
the contract asset balance held in the balance sheet at year end. In the
majority of cases the contingent event is expected to be concluded within one
year of the engagement date. The Group operates standard payment terms of 30
days. £10.2 million (2024: £11.1m) of the current period revenue is derived
from services satisfied, in part, in the previous period.
Services transferred over time
For non-contingent engagements, fee earners' hourly rates are determined at
the point of engagement with all hours attributed to the engagement fully and
accurately recorded. The recorded hours are then translated into fees to be
billed and invoiced on a monthly basis. The Group typically operates on 30
days credit terms, in line with IFRS 15 the performance obligations are
fulfilled over time with revenue being recognised in line with the hours
worked.
Contract assets
Under IFRS 15 the Group recognises any goods or services transferred to the
customer before the customer pays consideration, or before payment is due, as
a contract asset. These assets differ from accounts receivables. Accounts
receivable are the amounts that have been billed to the client and the revenue
recognised, whereas these contract assets are amounts of work in progress
where work has been performed, yet the amounts have not yet been billed to the
client. Due to the nature of the services delivered by the Group the
significant component of the cost of delivery is staff costs. As a result,
there is little to no judgement exercised in determining the costs incurred as
they are driven by the time recorded by fee earners. Contract assets are
subject to impairment under IFRS 9.
No other financial information has been disclosed as it is not provided to the
CODM on a regular basis.
Contract Liabilities
Under IFRS 15 the Group is required to recognise contract liabilities based on
those amounts recognised against contracts for which the satisfaction of
performance obligations has not yet been met. These liabilities relate to the
deferred income recognised within Kiddy & Partners, T-three Consulting
Limited and GEG Services Limited as a result of their billing structure. The
amounts recognised reflect the agreed cost of the services to be performed and
are realised in line with the ongoing cost of delivery. Due to the nature of
the services provided, the main component of this cost of delivery is staff
costs, as a result there is little to no judgement exercised in determining
the value of the liability held at year end.
Practical expedients under IFRS 15
Under IFRS 15 companies are required to disclose the aggregate amount of the
transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are
unsatisfied at the end of the reporting period. However, only a small
proportion of revenue contracts in issuance are for fixed amounts, rather the
company has a right to consideration from the customer in an amount that
corresponds directly with the value to the customer of the business'
performance completed to date. Therefore, the Group considers it impractical
to estimate the potential value of unsatisfied performance obligations and has
elected to apply the practical expedient available under IFRS 15.
4. Expenses and auditor's remuneration
Included in operating profit are the following:
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Depreciation on tangible assets (see note 11) 1,303 1,140
Depreciation on right-of-use asset (see notes 11 and 22) 4,034 3,949
Short term and low value lease payments (see note 22) 88 76
Operating lease costs on property (see note 22) 117 116
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-underlying items
Amortisation of acquisition related intangible assets (see note 12) 2,696 2,483
Share based payment charges - Gateley Plc 1,375 1,625
Share based payment charges - Gateley RJA Limited - 61
Gain on bargain purchase - (3,609)
Consideration treated as remuneration 10,928 6,956
14,999 7,516
Exceptional items
Acquisition costs 13 37
One off remuneration charge - Gateley RJA Limited - 367
Reorganisation costs 1,924 1,159
Total non-underlying and exceptional items 16,936 9,079
Consideration treated as remuneration: such charges are treated as
non-underlying in order to reflect the commercial substance of the
transaction. All former vendors who remain employed by the group are paid at
market rates and the earn-out remuneration is a function of the interpretation
of IFRS, and related emerging guidance only.
Acquisition costs relate to third-party professional fees in connection with
prospecting and completing acquisitions during the period.
Share based payment charges in Gateley Plc represent charges in accordance
with IFRS 2 in respect of unexercised SAYE, CSOP, LTIP and RSA schemes (See
note 6).
Share based payment charges in Gateley RJA Limited represent shares awarded to
staff following the successful acquisition of the Company (See notes 5 and 6).
Reorganisation costs relate to restructuring and integration projects around
the group.
Auditor's remuneration
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Fees payable to the Company's Auditor in respect of audit services:
Audit of these financial statements 126 115
Audit of financial statements of subsidiaries of the Company 25 23
151 138
Amounts receivable by the Company's auditor and its associates in respect of:
Other assurance services 47 37
Other assurance services relate to Solicitors Accounts Rules review with
associated reporting to legal regulators. This work is entirely assurance
focused.
5. Personnel costs
The average number of persons employed by the Group during the year, analysed
by category, was as follows:
Number of employees
2025 2024
Legal and professional staff 1,066 1,068
Administrative staff 505 468
1,571 1,536
The aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows:
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Wages and salaries 97,467 94,402
Social security costs 11,515 10,928
Pension costs 3,080 3,160
112,062 108,490
Non-underlying items (see note 4)
Share based payment expense - Gateley Plc 1,375 1,625
Share based payment expense - Gateley RJA Limited - 61
113,437 110,176
6. Share based payments
Group
At the year end the Group has twelve unexercised grants across four different
equity-settled share based payment schemes.
Save As You Earn scheme ('SAYE')
The Group operates a HMRC approved SAYE scheme for all staff. Options under
this scheme will vest if the participant remains employed for the agreed
vesting period of three years. Upon vesting, each option allows the holder
to purchase the allocated ordinary shares at a discount of 20% of the market
price determined at the grant date.
Company Share Option Plan ('CSOP')
The Group operates an HMRC approved CSOP scheme for associates, senior
associates, legal directors, equivalent positions in Gateley Group subsidiary
companies and Senior Management positions in our support teams. Options
under this scheme will vest if the participant remains employed for the agreed
vesting period of three years. Upon vesting, each option allows the holder
to purchase the allocated ordinary shares at the price on the date of grant.
Long Term Incentive Plan ('LTIP')
The Group operates an LTIP for the benefit of Executive Directors and Senior
Management. Awards under the LTIP may be in the form of an option granted to
the participant to receive ordinary shares on exercise dependent upon the
achievement of profit related performance conditions.
Performance conditions
Options granted under the LTIP are only exercisable subject to the
satisfaction of the following performance conditions which will determine the
proportion of the option that will vest at the end of the three-year
performance period. The awards will be subject to adjusted fully diluted
earnings per share performance measure as described in the table below:
Adjusted, fully diluted earnings per Share Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) Amount Vesting %
over the three year period ending 30 April 2025/26
Below 5% 0%
5% 25%
Between 5% and 10% Straight line vesting
Above 10% 100%
The options will generally be exercisable after approval of the financial
statements during the year of exercise. The performance period for any future
awards under the LTIP will be a three-year period from the date of grant.
Vested and unvested LTIP awards are subject to a formal malus and clawback
mechanism.
Restricted Share Award Plan ('RSA')
The Group operates an RSA for the benefit of Senior Management. Awards under
the RSA entitle the option holder to participate in dividends however, the
shares are restricted for a period of 5 years from issue, such that they
cannot be traded.
The annual awards granted under all schemes are summarised below:
Weighted average remaining contractual life Weighted Originally granted Lapsed/exercised at 30 April 2024 At 1 May Granted Lapsed during year Exercised in the year At 30 April 2025
average 2024 during
exercise the year
price
Number Number Number Number Number Number Number
SAYE
SAYE 20/21 - 6 November 2020 2,337,197 (170,346) -
0 years £1.02 (1,966,215) 370,982 - (200,636)
SAYE 21/22 - 25 August 2021 673,077 (277,242) 4,022
0 years £1.70 (391,813) 281,264 - -
SAYE 22/23 - 22 September 2022 (151,660)
0.4 years £1.55 1,070,154 (465,305) 604,849 - - 453,189
SAYE 23/24 - 3 November 2023
1.5 years £1.14 1,801,308 (95,668) 1,705,640 - (400,282) - 1,305,358
SAYE 24/25 - 18 September 2024 - (72,315) 866,669
2.5 years £1.12 - - 938,984 -
5,881,736 2,962,735 (1,071,845) 2,629,238
(2,919,001) 938,984 (200,636)
CSOPS
CSOPS 20/21 - 7 July 2020 0 years 976,797 234,702 - (70,999) -
£1.35 (742,095) (163,703)
CSOPS 22/23 - 14 December 2022 (50,000) 250,000 -
0.6 years £1.74 300,000 (25,000) - 225,000
1,276,797 484,702 -
(792,095) (95,999) (163,703) 225,000
LTIPS
LTIPS - 27 April 2022 0.0 years 1,115,000 - (52,500) - 837,500
£0.00 (225,000) 890,000
LTIPS 23 Feb 2023 0.8 years -
£0.00 1,320,000 (190,000) 1,130,000 - (30,000) 1,100,000
2,435,000 2,020,000 (82,500) 1,937,500
(415,000) - -
RSA
RSA - 27 April 2022 1,422,560 1,185,060 1,160,060
2.0 years £0.00 (237,500) - (25,000) -
RSA - 22 February 2023 2.8 years £0.00 1,175,000 (237,500) 937,500 - (150,000) - 787,500
RSA - 21 September 2023 3.4 years £0.00 790,131 - 790,131 - (29,155) - 760,976
RSA - 24 July 2024 4.2 years £0.00 - - - 3,198,327 (72,464) - 3,125,863
RSA - 6 February 2025 4.8 years £0.00 - - - 151,882 - - 151,882
3,387,691 (475,000) 2,912,691 3,350,209 (276,619) - 5,986,281
Fair value calculations
The award is accounted for as equity-settled under IFRS 2. The fair value of
awards which are subject to non-market based performance conditions is
calculated using the Black Scholes option pricing model. The inputs to this
model for awards granted during the financial year are detailed below:
SAYE RSA RSA
Grant date 18/09/2025 24/07/2024 06/02/2025
Share price at date of grant £1.36 £1.355 £1.36
Exercise price £1.12 £nil £nil
Volatility 29% 27% 27%
Expected life (years) 3.3 5.0 5.0
Risk free rate 3.648% 3.945% 4.170%
Dividend yield 5.75% 0.00% 0.00%
Fair value per share
Market based performance condition -
Non-market based performance £0.29 £1.355 £1.36
condition/no performance condition
Expected volatility was determined by using historical share price data of the
Company since it listed on 8 June 2015. The expected life used in the model
has been based on Management's expectation of the minimum and maximum exercise
period of each of the options granted.
The total charge to the Consolidated Statement of Profit and loss and Other
Comprehensive Income for all schemes now in place, included within
non-underlying items, is £1,375,000 (2024: £1,686,000). Of this charge,
£706,000 relates to schemes outlined in the table above, with a corresponding
credit taken to the Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity. The remainder
relates to one-off awards that have been expensed in the Consolidated
Statement of Profit and loss and Other Comprehensive Income as they were
exercised immediately.
7. Financial income and expense
Recognised in profit and loss
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Financial income
Interest income 4,770 4,999
Total financial income 4,770 4,999
Financial expense
Interest expense on bank borrowings measured at amortised cost (1,299) (1,051)
Interest on lease liability (1,090) (1,170)
Total financial expense (2,389) (2,221)
Net financial income 2,381 2,778
8. Taxation
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current tax expense
Current tax on profits for the year 5,425 4,341
Under provision of taxation in previous period 418 73
Total current tax 5,843 4,414
Deferred tax expense
Origination and reversal of temporary differences (561) (646)
(Under)/over provision on share-based payment charges (284) 113
Total deferred tax expense (845) (533)
Total tax expense 4,998 3,881
The reasons for the difference between the actual tax charge for the year and
the standard rate of corporation tax in the United Kingdom applied to profits
for the year are as follows:
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Profit for the year (subject to corporation tax) 6,363 13,955
Tax using the Company's domestic tax rate of 25% (2024: 25%) 1,591 3,489
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes 3,273 206
Under provision of taxation in previous period 418 73
Over provision on share-based payment charges (284) 113
Total tax expense 4,998 3,881
The Finance Act 2021 increased the main rate of corporation tax to 25% from
1 April 2023.
9. Earnings per share
Statutory earnings per share
2025 2024
Number Number
Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue, being weighted average 133,571,424 130,127,316
number of shares for calculating basic earnings per share
Shares deemed to be issued for no consideration in respect of share based 316,767 1,980,638
payments
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for calculating diluted earnings 133,888,191 132,107,953
per share
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Profit for the year and basic earnings attributable to ordinary equity 1,365 10,074
shareholders
Non-underlying and exceptional items (see note 4)
Operating expenses 16,936 9,079
Tax on non-underlying and exceptional items (484) (391)
Underlying earnings before non-underlying and exceptional items 17,817 18,762
Earnings per share is calculated as follows:
2025 2024
Pence Pence
Basic earnings per ordinary share 1.02 7.74
Diluted earnings per ordinary share 1.02 7.63
Basic earnings per ordinary share before non-underlying and exceptional items 13.34 14.42
Diluted earnings per ordinary share before non-underlying and exceptional 13.31 14.20
items
2025
2024
£'000
£'000
Profit for the year and basic earnings attributable to ordinary equity
shareholders
1,365
10,074
Non-underlying and exceptional items (see note 4)
Operating expenses
16,936
9,079
Tax on non-underlying and exceptional items
(484)
(391)
Underlying earnings before non-underlying and exceptional items
17,817
18,762
Earnings per share is calculated as follows:
2025
2024
Pence
Pence
Basic earnings per ordinary share
1.02
7.74
Diluted earnings per ordinary share
1.02
7.63
Basic earnings per ordinary share before non-underlying and exceptional items
13.34
14.42
Diluted earnings per ordinary share before non-underlying and exceptional
items
13.31
14.20
10. Dividends
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Equity shares:
Interim dividend in respect of 2025 (3.3p per share) - 31 March 2025 4,342 -
Final dividend in respect of 2024 (6.2p per share) - 8 November 2024 8,156 -
Interim dividend in respect of 2024 (3.3p per share) - 28 March 2024 - 4,338
Final dividend in respect of 2023 (6.2p per share) - 27 October 2023 - 7,997
12,498 12,335
The Board proposes to recommend a final dividend of 6.2p (2024: 6.2p) per
share at the AGM. If approved, this dividend will be paid in November 2025 to
shareholders on the register at the close of business on 10 October 2025. The
shares will go ex-dividend on 9 October 2025. This dividend has not been
recognised as a liability in these final statements.
11. Property, plant and equipment
Leasehold Equipment Fixtures and Right-of-use assets Total
improvements Fittings
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Cost
Balance at 1 May 2023 313 7,736 6,025 40,153 54,227
Additions - 699 346 472 1,517
Arising through business combinations 34 90 - - 124
Disposal - (22) - (630) (653)
As at 30 April 2024 347 8,503 6,371 39,994 55,215
Balance at 1 May 2024 347 8,503 6,371 39,994 55,215
Additions - 802 723 1,545 3,070
Disposals - - - (1,071) (1,071)
As at 30 April 2025 347 9,305 7,094 40,468 57,214
Depreciation and impairment
Balance at 1 May 2023 220 6,722 5,504 13,055 25,501
Depreciation charge for the year 29 823 287 3,949 5,089
Arising through business combinations 15 59 - - 74
Eliminated on disposal - (22) - (630) (652)
Balance at 30 April 2024 264 7,582 5,791 16,374 30,011
Balance at 1 May 2024 264 7,582 5,791 16,374 30,011
Depreciation charge for the year 29 941 333 4,034 5,337
Eliminated on disposal - - - (1,071) (1,071)
Balance at 30 April 2025 293 8,523 6,124 19,337 34,277
Net book value
At 30 April 2024 83 921 580 23,621 25,204
At 30 April 2025 54 782 970 21,131 22,937
12. Intangible assets and goodwill
Goodwill Customer lists Brands Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Deemed cost
At 1 May 2023 1,550 17,261 3,518 22,329
Arising through business combinations - 3,322 - 3,322
At 30 April 2024 1,550 20,583 3,518 25,651
Arising through business combinations - - - -
At 30 April 2025 1,550 20,583 3,518 25,651
Amortisation
At 1 May 2023 - 9,155 245 9,400
Charge for the year - 2,248 235 2,483
At 30 April 2024 - 11,403 480 11,883
Charge for the year - 2,461 235 2,696
At 30 April 2025 - 13,864 715 14,579
Carrying amounts
At 30 April 2024 1,550 9,180 3,038 13,768
At 30 April 2025 1,550 6,719 2,803 11,072
Within intangible assets includes a Gateley Smithers Purslow customer list
asset of £3.6m (2024: £4m) which has a remaining life of 8 years, and a
Gateley RJA customer list asset of £2.2m (2024: £3m) which has a remaining
useful life of 3 years and 3 months. The entirety of the brand intangible
relates to Gateley Smithers Purslow and has a remaining life of 12 years.
Goodwill is allocated to the following cash generating units:
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Property Group
Gateley Capitus Limited - -
Gateley Hamer Limited - -
GCL Solicitors (acquisition of trade and assets) - -
Persona Associates Limited 40 40
Gateley Vinden Limited 934 934
Tozer Gallagher (acquisition of trade and assets) - -
Gateley Smithers Purslow Limited - -
Gateley RJA Limited - -
974 974
Employment, Pensions and Benefits Group
Kiddy & Partners Limited - -
International Investment Services Limited - -
T-three Consulting Limited - -
- -
Business services Group
Gateley Tweed (acquisition of goodwill) 576 576
Adamson Jones IP Limited - -
Symbiosis IP Limited - -
576 576
1,550 1,550
Impairment testing
The Group tests goodwill annually for impairment. The impairment test involves
determining the recoverable amount of the cash generating unit (CGU) to which
the goodwill has been allocated. The Directors believe that each operating
segment represents a cash generating unit for the business and as a result,
impairment is tested for each segment, and all the assets of each segment are
considered.
The recoverable amount is based on the present value of expected future cash
flows (value in use) which was determined to be higher than the carrying
amount of goodwill so no impairment loss was recognised.
Value in use was determined by discounting the future cash flows generated
from the continuing operation of the Group and was based on the following key
assumptions:
· A pre-tax discount rate of between 12% and 21% (2024: 12-21%) was
applied in determining the recoverable amount. The discount rate is based on
the Group's average weighted cost of capital of 10.18% and adjusted according
to the risks attributable to each CGU.
· The values assigned to the key assumptions represent Management's
estimate of expected future trends and are based on both external (industry
experience, historic market performance and current estimates of risks
associated with trading conditions) and internal sources (existing Management
knowledge, track record and an in-depth understanding of the work types being
performed).
o Revenue growth rates of between 2% to 10% (2024: 2-10%) are based on
Management's understanding of the market opportunities for services provided
pertaining to the industry in which each CGU is aligned.
o Increases in costs are based on current inflation rates and expected
levels of recruitment needed to generate predicted revenue growth.
o Attrition rates are based on the historic experience and trends of client
activity over a two to three year period and applied to future fee forecasts.
o Cash flows have been typically assessed over a five-year period which
Management extrapolates cash using a terminal value calculation based on an
estimated growth rate of 2%. The expected current UK economic growth
forecasts for the legal services market is 2%.
· The Group has conducted a sensitivity analysis on the impairment test
of the CGU carrying value. The Directors believe that any reasonably
possible change in the key assumptions on which the recoverable amount of
goodwill is based would not cause the aggregate carrying amount to exceed the
aggregate recoverable amount of the CGU.
13. Other intangible assets
IT development costs Computer
£'000 software Total
£'000
£'000
Cost
Balance at 1 May 2023 282 1,203 1,485
Additions - - -
At 30 April 2024 282 1,203 1,485
Additions - - -
At 30 April 2025 282 1,203 1,485
Amortisation
Balance at 1 May 2023 40 355 395
Charge for the year 80 363 443
At 30 April 2024 120 718 838
Charge for the year 80 345 425
At 30 April 2025 200 1,063 1,263
Net book value at 30 April 2024 162 485 647
Net book value at 30 April 2025 82 140 222
The Group's amortisation policy is to amortise other intangible assets from
the date they are made available for use.
14. Contract assets and liabilities
Contract assets Contract liabilities
£'000 £'000
As at 30 April 2025 24,886 (198)
As at 30 April 2024 23,543 (409)
Contract assets
Contract assets consist of unbilled revenue in respect of professional
services performed to date.
Contract assets in relation to non-contingent work are recognised at
appropriate intervals, normally on a monthly basis in arrears, in line with
the performance of the services and engagement obligations. Where such matters
remain unbilled at the period end the asset is valued on a
contract-by-contract basis at its expected recoverable amount.
Contract assets in relation to contingent work are recognised at a point in
time once the uncertainty over the contingent event has been satisfied and all
performance obligations satisfied, such that it is no longer contingent, these
matters are valued based on the expected recoverable amount. Due to the
complex nature of these matters, they can take a considerable time to be
finalised therefore performance obligations may be settled in one period but
the matter not billed until a later financial period. Until the performance
obligations have been performed the Group does not recognise any contract
asset value at the year end.
During the year, contract assets of £nil (2024: £nil) were acquired in
business combinations.
The Group applies the simplified approach to providing for the expected credit
losses on contact assets.
An impairment loss of £656,000 has been recognised in relation to contract
assets in the year (2024: loss £656,000). This is based on the expected
credit loss under IFRS 9 of these types of assets. The contract asset loss is
estimated at 2.6% (2024: loss 2.8%) of the balance.
Contract assets recognised under IFRS 15
Under IFRS 15 the Group is required to recognise contract assets, as detailed
in note 1.17.
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Contract asset value at 1 May 2024 23,543 20,388
Contract asset value added in the year 21,671 24,759
Contract asset value realised in the year (20,328) (21,604)
Contract asset value at 30 April 2025 24,886 23,543
The Group have applied ECLs to unbilled revenue in order to account for the
potential default on amounts not yet billed to the client. The ECLs have been
calculated on the same basis as those applied to trade receivables.
Contract liabilities
When matters are billed in advance or on a basis of a monthly retainer, this
is recognised in contract liabilities and released over time when the services
are performed.
Contract liabilities recognised under IFRS 15
Under IFRS 15 the Group is required to recognise contract liabilities.
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Contract liabilities at 1 May 2024 409 499
Contract liabilities gained in the year 24 879
Contract liabilities credited to P&L in year (235) (969)
Contract liabilities at 30 April 2025 198 409
15. Trade and other receivables
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Trade receivables 57,854 58,056
Prepaid consideration subject to earn-out service conditions 2,328 6,717
Prepayments 8,901 7,249
Other receivables including insurance receivables 1,493 2,083
70,576 74,105
Amounts falling due after one year: £'000
Prepaid consideration subject to earn-out service conditions 2,559 8,368
Trade receivables
Trade receivables are recognised when a bill has been issued to the client, as
this is the point in time that the consideration is unconditional because only
the passage of time is required before the payment is due. Trade receivables
also include disbursements.
Bills are payable within thirty days unless otherwise agreed with the client.
All trade receivables are repayable within one year.
Movement in loss allowance
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Brought forward provision (3,257) (3,825)
Provision utilised 1,735 1,187
Charged to statement of profit and loss (1,949) (1,062)
Provisions released 265 443
(3,206) (3,257)
The Group applies the simplified approach to providing for the expected credit
losses under IFRS 9. Management have also elected to apply an uplift to the
IFRS 9 provision in the current year to account for the specific risks in the
subsidiary entities where the application of IFRS 9 alone is not considered
appropriate.
2025 Not passed due Past due 0-30 days Past due 31-120 days Past due greater than 120 days Total
Expected credit loss rate 2.41% 2.67% 3.19% 14.45%
Estimated total gross carrying amount £'000 35,668 6,575 5,358 13,395 60,996
Lifetime ECL £'000 860 176 171 1,935 3,142
2024 Not passed due Past due 0-30 days Past due 31-120 days Past due greater than 120 days Total
Expected credit loss rate 2.32% 2.53% 2.69% 14.86%
Estimated total gross carrying amount £'000 35,813 6,777 4,343 14,380 61,313
Lifetime ECL £'000 831 172 117 2,137 3,257
The carrying amount of financial assets (including contract assets but not
including equity investments) recorded in the financial statements, which is
net of any impairment losses, represents the Group's maximum expected exposure
to credit risk. Financial assets include client and other receivables and
cash. The Group does not hold collateral over these balances.
All the Group's trade and other receivables have been reviewed for indicators
of impairment. The specifically impaired trade receivables are mostly due to
customers experiencing financial difficulties.
An impairment loss of £1,949,000 has been recognised in relation to trade
receivables in the year (2024: £1,062,000). This is based on the expected
credit loss under IFRS 9 of these types of assets. The trade receivables loss
is estimated at 3.4% (2024: 1.7%) of the balance.
.
16. Other interest-bearing loans and borrowings
The contractual terms of the Group's interest-bearing loans and borrowings,
which are measured at amortised cost, with the exception of loans to members
that are held at fair value, are described below.
2025 2024
Fair Carrying Fair Carrying
amount
amount
value value
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Non-Current liabilities
Bank borrowings 18,685 18,685 12,908 12,908
On 11 April 2025, the Company entered into a new revolving credit facility
which provides total committed funding of £80m until April 2028. Interest is
payable at a margin of 1.25% above the SONIA reference rate. A commitment fee
of one third of the applicable margin is payable on the undrawn amounts.
As at 30 April 2025, the Group's non-derivative financial liabilities have
contractual maturities (including interest payments where applicable) as
summarised below:
30 April 2025 Current Non-current
Within 6 months 6 to 12 months 1 - 5 Later than
years 5 years
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Bank borrowings - - 22,249 -
Leases 2,584 2,584 19,048 4,012
Trade and other payables 9,249 - - -
Total 11,833 2,584 41,297 4,012
This compares to the maturity of the Group's non-derivative financial
liabilities in the previous reporting period as follows:
30 April 2024 Current Non-current
Within 6 months 6 to 12 months 1 - 5 Later than
years 5 years
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Bank borrowings - 14,133 - -
Leases 2,721 2,720 19,855 7,926
Trade and other payables 12,839 - - -
Total 15,560 16,853 19,855 7,926
The above amounts reflect the contractual undiscounted cash flows, which may
differ to the carrying values of the liabilities at the reporting date.
17. Trade and other payables
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current
Trade payables 9,249 12,839
Other taxation and social security payable 8,062 8,143
Contingent consideration 252 324
Accruals 8,174 11,397
Deferred income 198 409
25,935 33,112
Trade payables and accruals mainly comprise amounts outstanding from trade
purchases and other normal business-related costs. The average credit period
taken for trade purchases is 18 days (2024: 20 days).
Other taxation and social security are comprised of payroll taxes and value
added tax due to HMRC.
18. Deferred tax
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are summarised below:
Deferred tax asset
The deferred tax asset recognised in the consolidated statement of financial
position represents the future tax impact of issued share based payments
schemes that are yet to vest.
Share-based payments
£'000
At 1 May 2023 830
Credited during the year in the Consolidated income statement (114)
Debited during the year to retained earnings (343)
At 1 May 2024 373
Credited during the year in the consolidated income statement 283
Debited during the year to retained earnings (90)
At 30 April 2024 566
Deferred tax liability
The deferred tax liability recognised in the Consolidated Statement of
Financial Position represents the future tax impact of the Group's benefit
from customer lists obtained through acquisitions.
Customer lists
£'000
At 1 May 2023 2,941
Arising through business combinations - Gateley RJA Limited 831
Credited during the year in the Consolidated income statement (804)
At 30 April 2024 2,968
Credited during the year in the Consolidated income statement (559)
At 30 April 2025 2,409
19. Provisions
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current provision
Professional indemnity provision 175 175
Total current provision 175 175
Non-current provision
Professional indemnity provision 2,093 3,088
Dilapidations provision 637 637
Total non-current provision 2,730 3,725
Total provisions 2,905 3,900
Professional indemnity estimated claim cost
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Brought forward 3,263 1,010
Provisions made during the year - 2,253
Provisions reversed during the year (995) -
At end of year 2,268 3,263
Non-current 2,093 3,088
Current 175 175
2,268 3,263
The Group from time to time receives claims in respect of alleged professional
negligence which it defends where appropriate but makes provision for the best
estimate of probable amounts considered likely to be payable as set out
above. Inevitably, these estimates depend on the outcome and timing of
future events and may need to be revised as circumstances change. A different
assessment of the likely outcome in each case or of the probable cost involved
may result in a different level of provision recognised. Professional
indemnity Insurance cover is maintained in respect of professional negligence
claims.
Dilapidations provision
The Group has leases for a number of offices, some of which include
dilapidation clauses. The Group maintains the office buildings throughout each
lease term with regular maintenance, however a cost is likely to arise at the
end of the lease term in order to return the space to its original condition.
Management have therefore elected to introduce a dilapidations provision to
account for the future cost. The provision is based on Management's estimate
of the total costs across all applicable lease to be recognised on a
straight-line basis over the total lease terms.
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
At 1 May 637 387
Provision made in the year - 250
At 30 April 637 637
20. Net debt
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Cash and cash equivalents 12,081 16,674
Debt
Total loans brought forward (41,432) (38,786)
Revolving credit facility - due in more than one year (5,777) (6,095)
New lease liability in the year (2,634) (1,642)
Repayment of lease liability 5,376 5,091
Total loan carried forward (44,467) (41,432)
Brought forward from previous year (24,758) (27,681)
Movement during year (7,628) 2,923
Net debt at the year end (32,386) (24,758)
The changes in the Group's liabilities arising from financing activities can
be classified as follows:
Long term borrowings Short term borrowings Lease liabilities Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
1 May 2024 - 12,908 28,524 41,432
Cashflows:
Receipt of revolving credit facility 19,000 6,000 25,000
Repayments (320) (19,000) (5,376) (24,696)
Non-cash
Loan arrangement fee unwind 5 92 97
New lease liability in the year - - 2,634 2,634
30 April 2025 18,685 - 25,782 44,467
Long term borrowings Short term borrowings Lease liabilities Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
1 May 2023 6,813 - 31,973 38,786
Cashflows:
Repayments (5,000) - (5,091) (10,091)
Receipt of revolving credit facility 11,000 - - 11,000
Non-cash
Loan arrangement fee unwind 95 - - 95
New lease liability in the year - - 1,642 1,642
Reclassification to short term borrowings (12,908) 12,908 - -
30 April 2024 - 12,908 28,524 41,432
21. Share capital
Authorised, issued and fully paid
2025 2025 2024 2024
Number £ Number £
Ordinary shares of 10p each
Brought forward 133,037,849 13,303,784 126,636,157 12,663,615
Issued to satisfy consideration in acquisition of Richard Julian and 299,438 29,944 1,192,163 119,216
Associates Limited
Issued as part of contingent consideration of Gateley Smithers Purslow Limited - - 1,661,790 166,179
Issued on vesting of RSA - - 790,131 79,013
Issued on vesting of SAYE 200,636 20,064 1,591,555 159,156
Issued on vesting of LTIP - - 727,790 72,779
Issued on vesting of CSOPS 163,703 16,370 438,263 43,826
At 30 April 133,701,626 13,370,162 133,037,849 13,303,784
The Company has one class of Ordinary shares which carry no right to fixed
income. Each share has full rights in respect to voting.
On 5 August 2024 the Company issued 299,438 10p ordinary shares to satisfy the
contingent consideration on the acquisition of Richard Julian and Associates
Limited.
Between 1 May 2024 and 30 April 2025 200,636 10p ordinary shares were issued
upon vesting of the 2019/2020 SAYE schemes to participants.
On 27 September 2024 163,703 10p ordinary shares were issued upon vesting of
the 2020 LTIP scheme to participants.
22. Leases liabilities - IFRS 16
The Group has leases for offices, vehicles and some IT equipment, with the
exception of short-term leases and leases of low-value assets each lease is
held on the balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and corresponding lease
liability. Property leases have a remaining term of one to ten years. Leases
of vehicles and IT equipment have a term of three to five years. Lease
payments on all those recognised on the balance sheet are fixed. Unless there
is a contractual right for the Group to sublet the asset to a third party, the
right of use asset can only be used by the Group.
The table below provides additional information on the right-of-use assets by
class of assets:
Number of leased assets* Average length of lease remaining Opening lease asset Net additions Depreciation Closing lease asset
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Office buildings 10 4.5 years 23,239 1,375 (3,886) 20,729
Electric Vehicles 15 1.7 years 382 168 (148) 402
* Where properties within the same building are leased on a floor by floor
basis on the same contractual terms, the Group has elected to treat these as a
portfolio and are counted as a single leased asset within the table
Lease liabilities are presented in the statement of financial position as
follows:
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current lease liability 4,230 4,346
Non-current lease liability 21,552 24,178
A number of property leases held by the Group include break or termination
options. The lease liability has been calculated based on the likelihood of
such option being exercised. An option would only be exercised when in line
with the Groups wider strategy.
In line with IFRS 16 Leases the Group has elected not to recognise a lease
liability for leases with a term of 12 months or less, or for leases of low
value assets. The payments made under such leases are expensed to the profit
and loss on a straight-line basis. Any variable lease payments incurred are
expensed as incurred.
The table below shows amounts recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive
Income for short term and low value leases as at 30 April 2025:
Property Equipment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000
Expenses relating to short-term leases 117 18 135
Expenses relating to leases of low-value assets, excluding short-term leases - 70 70
of low value assets
117 88 205
The total minimum undiscounted lease payments at 30 April 2024 under
non-cancellable operating lease rentals were:
30 April 2025 30 April 2024
£'000 £'000
Within one year 5,169 5,441
In the second to fifth year inclusive 19,048 19,855
After five years 4,012 7,926
28,229 33,222
23. Subsequent events
The Directors are not aware of any material post balance sheet events.
Alternative performance measures
Underlying profit before tax
The Directors seek to present a measure of underlying profit performance which
is not impacted by exceptional items or items considered non-operational in
nature. These include non-trading, non-cash and one-off items disclosed
separately in the consolidated income statement where the quantum, nature or
volatility of such items are considered by management to otherwise distort the
underlying performance of the Group. This measure is described as 'underlying'
and is used by management to assess and monitor profit performance only at the
before and after tax level. In line with the board's wish to simplify
reporting of profits, the board have moved away from reporting adjusted
Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortisation ("EBITDA"),
following the introduction of IFRS 16 'Leases'.
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Reported profit before tax 6,363 13,955
Adjustments for non-underlying and exceptional items:
- Amortisation of intangible assets 2,696 2,483
- Share-based payment adjustment 1,375 1,686
- Gain on bargain purchase - (3,609)
- Consideration treated as remuneration 10,928 6,956
- Exceptional items 1,937 1,563
Underlying profit before tax 23,299 23,034
Amortisation of acquired intangible assets is identified as a non-cash item
released to the income statement therefore such cost is removed when
considering the underlying trading performance of the Group by adding to
profit the annual amortisation charge.
Consideration treated as remuneration: such charges are treated as
non-underlying in order to reflect the commercial substance of the
transaction. All former vendors who remain employed by the Group are paid at
market rates and the earnout remuneration is a function of the interpretation
of IFRS, and related emerging guidance only.
The adjustment for share-based payments relates to the impact of the
accounting standard for share-based compensation. The cost of all share-based
schemes is settled entirely by the issue of shares where the proportions can
vary from one year to another based on events outside of the businesses
control e.g., share price. Under IFRS the anticipated future share cost is
expensed to the income statement over the vesting period. The adjustment above
addresses this by adding to profit the IFRS 2 charge in relation to
outstanding share awards. This adjustment is made so that non-cash expenses
are removed from profit.
Underlying operating profit
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Reported operating profit 3,982 11,177
Adjustments for non-underlying and exceptional items:
- Amortisation of intangible assets 2,696 2,483
- Share-based payment adjustment 1,375 1,686
- Gain on bargain purchase - (3,609)
- Consideration treated as remuneration 10,928 6,956
- Exceptional items 1,937 1,563
Underlying operating profit 20,918 20,256
Cash generated from operations
a) Free cash flows
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Net cash generated from operations 13,356 18,887
Repayment of lease liabilities (5,376) (5,091)
Net interest received 3,471 4,043
Tax paid (5,423) (4,902)
Cash outflow paid on acquisitions 401 5,825
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (1,526) (1,045)
Free cash flows 4,903 17,717
b) Working capital measures
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
WIP days
Amounts recoverable from clients in respect of contract assets (unbilled 24,886 23,543
revenue)
Unbilled disbursements 3,522 5,389
Total WIP 28,408 28,932
Annualised revenue 179,499 173,312
WIP days 58 61
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Debtor days
Trade receivables 57,854 58,056
Less unbilled disbursements (3,522) (5,389)
Total debtors 54,332 52,667
Annualised revenue 179,499 173,312
Debtor days 110 111
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Gross lock-up days
Total WIP 28,408 28,932
Total debtors 54,332 52,667
Total gross lock-up 82,740 81,599
Annualised revenue 179,499 173,312
Gross lock-up days 168 172
Annualised revenue reflects the total revenue for the previous 12-month period
inclusive of pro-forma adjustments for acquisitions.
The Annual report and financial statements will be posted to shareholders in
due course. Further copies will be available from the Company's website:
www.gateleyplc.com
(file:///C%3A/Users/Cat%20Valentine/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/JZ8HWI9W/www.gateleyplc.com)
.
4 (#_ftnref1) The Board understands that market consensus expectations for
FY26, based on the three analysts that have published research since 3rd June
2025, are for revenue of £187.2m and underlying profit before tax of £23.6m.
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