Listed firm Knights offered little cause for cheer in the legal services equity market today with shares sliding despite reporting profits growth over the past year. In the 12 months to 30 April 2024, profit before tax at the legal and professional services business rose by 17.3% to £25.3m on revenue up 6% to £150m.
This compares with the previous year's growth of 19.1% to £21.6m on revenue up 13.1% to £142.1m.
However the business was able to report gross margins of 48.8%, up marginally from last year’s 48.5% and underlying earnings per share up 8%.
Net debt rose by nearly 21% to £35.2m after a cash outlay of £11.3m relating to acquisitions and a joint venture investment in Convex Corporate Finance Limited. Claiming 'a good performance as we strengthened our platform for growth', the company announced a final dividend up 9% to 2.79p per share.
David Beech, chief executive, commented: 'Knights has delivered a good performance against a challenging market backdrop, reflecting the strength of our diversified service offering, and continued execution against our strategy, and building on our strong track record of profitable growth since IPO in 2018.
'This progress, together with an encouraging start to the year, including a strong recovery in residential property, in line with our expectations, means we are confident in delivering our ambitions plans to double the size of the business in the medium term.'
Share in Knights Group Holdings slipped 5.52% to 137p on the news, rallying to 138p at close.
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