REG - Knights Group Hldgs - Trading Update

Knights groupAnnouncement

22/03/2022 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:20220322:nRSV5234Fa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 5234F  Knights Group Holdings PLC  22 March 2022

22 March 2022

Knights Group Holdings plc

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

Trading Update

Knights today provides a trading update for the full year ending 30 April
2022.

The Group typically has a strong second half, particularly in the fourth
quarter, so had anticipated substantial growth following a good first half in
which the Group grew organically by 9%.

However, a continuation of the impact of Omicron and recent macro conditions
have slowed growth to a greater extent than anticipated.  The persistent
effects of Omicron across the country have meant, in particular, greater
illness rates amongst our people, resulting in the business not benefitting
from a faster return to office working and the consequent advantages of our
team-based culture. We have also seen a softening in business confidence,
possibly due to concerns around the strength of the economy, such that there
has been a slowdown in corporate work.

This confluence of events has meant that, whilst we have recently seen
increasing activity rates, these are lower than management's expectations.
The Group is now expected to deliver revenue of c.£126m and underlying PBT of
c.£18m for the year ending 30 April 2022.   The Group has not seen any
significant losses of clients or fee earners.

Given the current uncertainty regarding both the economic conditions and the
speed of transitioning people more fully back into offices, it is now prudent
to anticipate organic growth of c.5% for the year ending 30 April 2023, with
margins rebuilding to historic levels over time.

Cash conversion remains robust, with industry leading lock-up and debtor days
reflecting the strong discipline of day-to-day cash collection across the
Group.

David Beech, CEO of Knights, commented:

"Following a good first half, it is frustrating that recent events have held
the business back from delivering a stronger performance in the second half.

"Beyond this near-term uncertainty, the opportunity to cement our leading
position in key legal services markets outside London remains substantial and
we are as well placed as ever to deliver on that opportunity."

Knights will provide a further update on trading for the full year ending 30
April 2022 in May 2022.

Ends

 

Enquiries

 Knights
 David Beech, CEO  Via MHP Communications

 Kate Lewis, CFO

 
 Numis (Nomad and Broker)
 Stuart Skinner, Kevin Cruickshank                 020 7260 1000

 
 MHP Communications (Media enquiries)
 Andrew Jaques, Katie Hunt, Robert Collett-Creedy  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  TSTSEIEFFEESEFD