REG - Knights Group Hldgs - Acquisition of Thursfields Legal Limited

Knights groupAnnouncement

26/07/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 9163X  Knights Group Holdings PLC  26 July 2024

Knights Group Holdings plc

("Knights" or the "Group")

Acquisition of Thursfields Legal Limited

 

Significantly strengthens West Midlands presence

Knights today announces that it has agreed to acquire Thursfields Legal
Limited (trading as "Thursfields" and "Thursfields Solicitors"), a premium,
full service legal services business with offices across the West Midlands.

Acquisition rationale and background

Founded in 1878, Thursfields is an independent, full-service regional law firm
with offices in Worcester, Kidderminster, Solihull and Birmingham. Since
inception, Thursfields has transformed from a traditional law firm into a
corporatised, premium provider of legal services to a national client base.

The firm has a strong Private Wealth offering, spanning Private Client, Family
and Residential Property, alongside Corporate, Real Estate and Dispute
Resolution services. The acquisition sees 101 fee earning professionals join
Knights and significantly strengthens the Group's presence in the West
Midlands.

The acquisition is well-aligned with Knights' strategy to bolster its future
organic growth through selective, considered acquisitions. It further extends
Knights' existing capabilities in Private Wealth, while bringing a
high-quality team and national client base, which will benefit from Knights'
wider range of services and its established platform.

In its unaudited accounts for the year ended 30 April 2024, Thursfields
reported revenue of £11.2m and a PBT margin of circa 25%. Following full
integration and realisation of synergies, the Board expects it to contribute a
PBT margin of circa 30%. Accounting for a typical level of revenue attrition
post-acquisition, the acquisition is expected to be immediately earnings
enhancing.

Terms of the acquisition

Under the terms of the acquisition, Knights will acquire Thursfields Legal
Limited from its ten shareholders on a debt free, cash free basis, for a total
consideration of c.£12.5m. This comprises initial cash consideration of
c.£7.5m and deferred cash consideration of £5.0m to be paid in three equal
instalments on each of the first, second and third anniversaries following
completion. The cash consideration will be satisfied from Knights' existing
banking facilities. Completion is expected to take place on 14 September 2024.

Commenting on the acquisition, David Beech, CEO of Knights, said:

"We are delighted to acquire Thursfields, a premium, full-service law firm
which shares many cultural and operational similarities to Knights, and
significantly strengthens our position as a leading legal and professional
services business in the Midlands.

"With particular strength in Private Wealth, it further enhances our expertise
in an important and growing part of our business, which will support our
future growth plans.

Michelle O'Hara, Managing Partner at Thursfields commented:

"Knights is a business with a similar ethos to Thursfields, with a strong
culture which cultivates collaboration across its offices, to the benefit of
client service.

"We look forward to working closely with the team and leveraging Knights'
scale, reputation and extensive capabilities, to unlock our future growth
potential."

- ENDS -

 

Enquiries

 Knights
 David Beech, CEO                                 Via MHP

 Kate Lewis, CFO
 Deutsche Numis (Nomad and Broker)
 Stuart Skinner, Kevin Cruickshank                020 7260 1000
 MHP (Media enquiries)
 Katie Hunt, Eleni Menikou, Rob Collett-Creedy    +44 (0)7701308818

knights@mhpgroup.com

Notes to Editors

Knights is a fast-growing, legal and professional services business, ranked
within the UK's top 50 largest law firms by revenue. Knights was one of the
first law firms in the UK to move from the traditional partnership model to a
corporate structure in 2012 and has since grown rapidly. Knights has
specialists in all key areas of Corporate and Commercial law and Private
Wealth services. It is focussed on key UK markets outside London and currently
operates from 23 offices located in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Carlisle,
Cheltenham, Chester, Exeter, Kings Hill, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln,
Manchester, Newbury, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Sheffield,
Stoke, Teesside, Weybridge, Wilmslow and York.

 

 

 

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