DWF has lived up to its financial promises from last year, as acquisitions and a structural overhaul underpinned respectable growth.
DWF’s organic revenue, which does not factor in last year’s buyouts of compliance training company Zing 365 Holdings and Barnescraig & Associates, a Canadian insurance claims and loss adjusting business, was up 4% from £338m to £350m. Overall revenue was also up 4%, from £401m to £416m.
Profits were also healthy – adjusted profit before tax increased by a pacey 21% from £34m to £41m. Overall, the results more than live up to DWF’s prediction last year that its acquisitions would add ‘£3m of revenue and £500k of adjusted profit before tax.’
However, net debt stood at £71.8m, £11.6m higher than last year, which the firm attributed to ‘repayment of Covid-19 VAT deferrals and acquisition related payments.’ DWF also highlighted that the debt had reduced by £5.4m since its half-year 2022 results.
Chief executive Sir Nigel Knowles hailed the impact of the firm’s 2021 structural re-jig on the results – last year DWF streamlined into three global divisions of legal advisory, Mindcrest and connected services. Mindcrest is DWF’s process-led legal outsourcing arm, while connected services includes all the firm’s non-legal services such as claims management, costs and regulatory consulting.
Knowles said: ‘These results have been made possible through the continued transformation of our business, not least the successful implementation of our new global operating model which was introduced on 1 May last year. As anticipated, this has resulted in the greater integration and alignment of our colleagues and services, for the benefit of our clients.’
There were also notable client wins in the last year, with DWF winning a spot on the UK central government legal services panel, as well as new advisory roles for NHS Resolution, Allianz and LV=.
In light of the largely upbeat results, DWF will be paying a total dividend for the year of 4.75p, marginally above the 4.5p paid out last year.
However, Knowles is braced for headwinds. He concluded: ‘Despite the prospect of challenging macro-economic conditions, we remain confident in our medium-term guidance. This confidence is supported by the defensive nature of the group’s revenue being weighted towards litigation and the recurring revenue base in insurance, which has always protected the group both from artificial peaks in growth and hedges against a slowdown in transactional activity.’