Listed international firm DWF has reported pre-tax profits of £11m in its half-year results, turning around a loss of £11m in the same period last year.
The business’s adjusted profit before tax rose by 39.6% from £13.4m to £18.7m for the six months to 31 October while revenue grew by 3.8% to £203.5m, according to its interim results published today.
DWF Group plc also reported that its net debt increased by 32% to £77.2m, which the firm said was ‘due to the repayment of Covid deferrals, settlement of deferred consideration and a one-off outflow for the restructuring of Australia’ with combined outflows of £24.8m on those items over the last 12 months.
The firm said that mergers and acquisitions remain ‘central to the group’s strategy’, adding: ‘Management continue to identify a number of potential future M&A opportunities for the group.’
DWF, the only law firm listed in its own right on the main London Stock Exchange, said it expected its ‘strong trading’ to continue in the second half of the financial year ‘as the legal sector enjoys sustained demand for services’. Its board also approved an interim dividend of 1.5p per share.
Chief executive Sir Nigel Knowles said: ‘We are delighted with our performance for the first half of FY22. We have continued to see strong revenue growth on a like-for-like basis, after the decisive action taken in the prior year to exit or slim down a number of businesses.
‘We have seen an improvement in our gross margin and a reduction in our overheads relative to revenue. This has led to a compelling step-change in profitability with our adjusted pre-tax profit increasing by 40%.’
The firm also published its environmental, social, and governance strategy, which sets out its ambition to become a ‘net zero business’ as well as its aim to improve diversity by setting a target of having women in 40% of all senior management roles by 2025. The strategy also aims to increase the representation of people from ethnic minority backgrounds to 10% across senior management by 2025 and across all career bands to 13% by the same year.
DWF Group shares slipped by 0.18% to 109.80p on today's announcements, down from a high of 119p this year.
1 Reader's comment