REG - Knights Group Hldgs - Full Year Trading Update

Knights groupAnnouncement

20/05/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 2777J  Knights Group Holdings PLC  20 May 2025

Knights Group Holdings plc

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

Full Year Trading Update

Strong profit increase, recruitment momentum and progress with acquisition
strategy

Knights, the national legal and professional services business, today provides
a trading update for the year ended 30 April 2025.

The Group anticipates full year revenue of c.£162.0m, an 8% increase on the
prior year (FY24: £150.0m), with underlying PBT(1) expected to be c.£28.0m
(FY24: £25.3m), representing an 11% increase in underlying profits and
reflecting an improved margin.  The expected profit of £28m is  after
deduction of share based payment charges of c.£0.5m relating to a new one-off
executive share scheme introduced in November 2024.

The Group continues to show excellent working capital discipline, with debtor
days(2) as at 30 April 2025 of 31 (FY24: 28 days) supporting the Group's
strong balance sheet position at the year end.  Net debt(3) is expected to be
c.£65m, (FY24: £35.2m) after c.£30m cash paid in relation to acquisitions.

The number of senior fee earners joining the business increased significantly
on the prior year (52 new senior fee earners compared to 40 in the prior
year), reflecting strong momentum in recruitment. Knights' national scale,
strong reputation and uniquely collaborative culture are increasingly
attractive to high calibre professionals across the UK regions.  In addition,
recognition of its corporate model, which is gaining popularity among
professional services businesses, is building and offers a compelling
alternative to the partnership model, particularly in the current economic
environment.

During the year, the Group continued to execute its acquisition strategy. The
acquisition of Thursfields, which completed in September, bolstered the
Group's position as a leading legal and professional services business in the
Midlands. The completion of its largest acquisition to date in April, IBB Law,
saw Knights significantly strengthening its presence in the South East of
England.   These acquisitions are integrating well and performing as
expected.

Post period end, the Group announced a further acquisition in the South East,
which not only extended its legal services offering, but provided entry into
wealth advisory, an area long considered attractive by the Group. The Group
continues to consider selective acquisitions from its healthy pipeline of
opportunities, in line with its value accretive acquisition strategy.

David Beech, CEO of Knights, said:

"During the year, Knights has made significant progress. It is now recognised
as the UK's only legal services firm with true national scale, that retains a
strong regional focus. I am particularly pleased with the uptick in fee
earners joining the business during the year. As well as our scale, the
reputation we have built for quality of service and a unique culture, allows
us to recruit the highest quality talent to the business, which in turn, has
driven this strong performance.

"With the Group experiencing a return to lower levels of churn in the second
half of the financial year and positive momentum in the business continuing
into the current year, we remain confident in delivering further growth in
FY26."

Due to the timing of acquisitions around the year end and the additional
financial reporting implications, Knights will announce its full year results
in September 2025.

Notes

(1) Underlying PBT is before amortisation of acquired intangibles,
non-underlying operating expenses, and non-underlying finance costs.
Non-underlying operating expenses include transaction and onerous lease
expenses in relation to acquisitions, contingent acquisition payments,
disposal of acquired assets, along with one-off restructuring staff and
professional expenses, mainly incurred on acquisitions, through streamlining
support functions or strategic reorganisations.

(2) Debtor days are calculated on a count back basis using the gross debtors
at the period end and compared with total fees raised over prior months.

(3) Net debt includes cash and cash equivalents, borrowings and acquired debt
but excludes lease liabilities.

 

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          +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
client services. It is focussed on key UK markets outside London and currently
operates from 28 offices locations in Ascot, Beaconsfield, Birmingham,
Brighton, Bristol, Carlisle, Cheltenham, Chester, Exeter, Kings Hill, Leeds,
Leicester, Lincoln, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading,
Portsmouth, Sheffield, Solihull, Stoke, Teesside, Uxbridge, Weybridge,
Wilmslow, Worcester and York.

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