REG - Knights Group Hldgs - Trading Update

Knights groupAnnouncement

23/11/2021 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20211123:nRSW1829Ta&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 1829T  Knights Group Holdings PLC  23 November 2021

23 November 2021

Knights Group Holdings plc

("Knights", the "Company" or the "Group")

Trading Update for the Six Months Ended 31 October 2021

Continued strong operational progress and robust cash generation

Knights, one of the fastest growing legal and professional services businesses
in the UK, today provides a trading update for the half year ended 31 October
2021. Highlights of which include:

·    Revenue of c.£59.7m representing growth of 29% (H1 21: £46.2m)

·    Underlying adjusted PBT of c.£7.6m representing growth of 26% (H1
21: £6.0m)

·    Underlying PBT margin maintained at 13% (H1 21: 13%)

·    Cash conversion remains excellent

·    Industry leading lockup(1) of 99 days, underpinned by debtor days of
33 despite integration of new recruits and recent acquisitions

·    Net debt(2) as at 31 October 2021 of £23.1m (FY 21: £21.1m) after
£5.8m of acquisition consideration and related costs

The Group has delivered another strong financial performance in line with
Board expectations, reflecting strong organic growth and contributions from
acquisitions integrated over the past year.

The strong recruitment momentum experienced in H1 21 has been maintained, with
the Group continuing to attract high calibre talent, the majority from Top 50
law firms, who are attracted by Knights' unique business model and
collaborative culture.

The Group has successfully integrated the acquisitions of Keebles and Mundays,
strengthening the Group's footprint in the Yorkshire and South East regions.

Post period end the Group further expanded its footprint with the acquisition
of Archers, a leading full-service independent law firm operating in the
Teesside area, with early signs indicating a strong cultural fit across the
business. The acquisition provides a platform for further organic growth in
the North East, a new region for Knights and one currently undergoing
significant public and private investment.

The recently announced extended £60m Revolving Credit Facility provides
further flexibility for the Group to selectively execute on its pipeline of
acquisitions, in line with its strategy to become the leading legal and
professional services business outside London.

Despite the continued growth, cash generation has remained robust with
industry leading lock-up and debtor days reflecting the strong culture and
discipline of day-to-day cash collection across the Group.

David Beech, CEO of Knights, commented:

"We are delighted to report another strong period of profitable growth, during
which we have maintained the excellent discipline of financial management that
is central to our culture.

"With continued momentum in recruiting, we look forward to the second half
with confidence and we are well placed to continue to selectively execute
acquisition opportunities to further strengthen our position in key legal
services markets outside London."

Knights will provide a further update on trading with its half year results
announcement on 11 January 2022.

Ends

Notes

(1) Lock up excludes the impact of acquisitions in the last quarter of the
previous financial year, along with clinical negligence, highway and ground
rent WIP which operate mainly on a conditional fee arrangement

(2 )Excluding lease liabilities

 

Enquiries

 Knights
 David Beech, CEO                        Via MHP Communications

 Numis (Nomad and Broker)
 Stuart Skinner, Kevin Cruickshank       020 7260 1000
 MHP Communications (Media enquiries)
 Andrew Jaques, Katie Hunt, Rachel Mann  020 3128 8100

+44 (0)7736 464749
                                         knights@mhpc.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 so that it can
offer end-to-end support to businesses of all sizes and in all sectors. It is
focussed on key UK markets outside London and currently operates from 17
offices located in Birmingham, Cheltenham, Chester, Crawley, Exeter, Leeds,
Leicester, Maidstone, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Stoke,
Teesside, Weybridge, Wilmslow and York.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTFELFWEEFSEEF