REG - Knights Group Hldgs - Full Year Trading Update

Knights groupAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 9780E  Knights Group Holdings PLC  20 May 2026

Knights Group Holdings plc

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

Full Year Trading Update

Strong revenue and profit performance, with double-digit organic growth in the
second half

Knights, the national legal and professional services business, today issues a
trading update for the year ended 30 April 2026 which anticipates:

 * A 28% increase in full year revenue to c.£207m (FY25: £162m).

 * Double digit organic growth in the second half (rising from 2.6% in the first
half) meaning the Group achieved organic growth in line with its expectations
for the full year.

 * Underlying EBITDA¹  to increase by 19% to c.£51m (FY25: £43m) with
Underlying PBT¹ increasing by 18% to c.£33m (FY25: £28m).

The Group maintained its disciplined approach to working capital management
throughout the year, with debtor days² of 30 at 30 April 2026 (FY25: 31
days), supporting strong underlying cash conversion. The Group maintained a
robust balance sheet position, with net debt³ expected to be c.£65.4m at
year end (FY25: £64.8m), after c.£17m of net cash paid in relation to
acquisitions.

Knights continues to attract high calibre professionals through its national
scale, a growing reputation, its market-leading resources, location network
and expertise in the UK regions; alongside its unique collaborative culture.
 Annualised churn(4 )has remained low.

In line with its value-accretive acquisition strategy, Knights completed the
acquisition of Birkett Long LLP and Birkett Long IFA LLP in June 2025 and Rix
& Kay LLP in August 2025, further strengthening its presence in the South
East. Having established Knights' first presence outside England, in Cardiff,
organically, we added to the team via the acquisition of Le Gros Solicitors
Limited in August 2025. These and prior year acquisitions have all performed
well.

The Group is actively assessing acquisition opportunities, with a healthy
pipeline.  We continue to progress the previously announced discussions with
Moore Barlow LLP.

David Beech, CEO of Knights, said:

"Knights has delivered a strong financial performance in FY26, driven by
organic growth, our successful acquisition strategy, and the sustained
benefits of our differentiated business model, all underpinned by disciplined
execution led by our expanded management team.''

Knights expects to announce its full year results on 6 July 2026.

Notes

(1) Underlying EBITDA excludes non-underlying revenue and operating expenses
including transaction and onerous lease expenses in relation to acquisitions,
contingent acquisition payments, disposal of acquired assets, along with
one-off restructuring and professional expenses, mainly incurred on
acquisitions, through streamlining support functions or strategic
reorganisations.  Underlying PBT also excludes amortisation of acquired
intangibles, non-underlying finance costs and a gain on disposal of a customer
list from an acquired business.

(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.

(4  )Churn is calculated based on the number of qualified fee earners who
had been employed by the Group for more than one year. Churn is calculated
taking the number of leavers in the above group over the financial year as a
percentage of the average number of colleagues for the year. Churn excludes
expected churn from acquisitions in the year of acquisition and the first full
year post acquisition, redundancies and retirements. Retention is 100% less
the churn rate.

 

Enquiries

 Knights
 David Beech, CEO                                             Via MHP

 Kate Lewis, CFO

 James Sheridan, Chief M&A Officer / Investor Relations
 Deutsche Numis (Nomad and Broker)
 Stuart Skinner, Kevin Cruickshank                            +44 20 7260 1000
 MHP (Media enquiries)
 Katie Hunt, Eleni Menikou, Lucy Gibbs                        +44 (0) 7884 494112

                                                              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 29 offices located in Beaconsfield, Birmingham, Brighton,
Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Colchester,
Exeter, Kings Hill,  Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Manchester, Newcastle,
Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading, Sheffield, Stoke, Teesside, Uxbridge,
Weybridge, Wilmslow, Worcester and York.

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