Irwin Mitchell today announced a drop in group revenue and a sharp fall in pre-tax profits following its withdrawal from the volume personal injury market, though the national firm saw a slight increase in turnover for its ‘core’ business.

Group revenue for the year to 30 April 2022 was £275.7m, down just under 3% from £283.3m the previous year, which the national firm said was ‘expected’ after it exited the fast-track PI market last September to focus on high-value and complex cases.

Irwin Mitchell’s group profit before tax halved from £43.1m last year to £21.2m, though the firm said this figure is calculated after all partners have been paid. Its results are calculated differently to those reported last year because of a switch to International Financial Reporting Standards.

Andrew Tucker

Tucker: 'a transformational year'

Its ‘core group’ – referring to its complex personal injury, life cycle legal services and financial asset services businesses and not including its volume PI business – recorded a 1% rise in revenue to £266.1m, with profit before tax dropping 37% to £25.2m.

Irwin Mitchell said the fall in profit was due to last year’s ‘significant Covid costs savings’, but that it represents an increase on ‘pre-Covid levels’ when profit before tax in the year ending 30 April 2020 was £8.9m.

Andrew Tucker, group chief executive, said: ‘This was a transformational year for Irwin Mitchell as we implemented several changes designed to increase our operational resilience and agility, enhance our clients’ experiences and promote greater collaboration amongst our colleagues.

‘Our results this year, while robust and significantly ahead of pre-pandemic levels, are set against last year’s exceptional performance which benefited from the wide range of one-off cost-saving measures that helped to protect group profitability and preserve cash during the pandemic.’

He also said the firm has made ‘a strong start’ to the current financial year, referring to new offices opened in Cardiff and Liverpool and the acquisition of chartered financial planning company TWP Wealth which will ‘add further capability to our wealth management services’.

‘We’re mindful of the current macroeconomic and geo-political environment,’ Tucker added. ‘However, we’re confident that our trusted reputation, leading approach to responsible business, differentiated business model and healthy balance sheet position us well for continued long-term, sustainable growth.’