After last year’s show-stealing performance when Irwin Mitchell’s profit soared 76% and revenue grew 9%, the firm has reported a more sedate 2019/20 financial year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll.
The firm on Thursday (20 August) said turnover increased 2.4% to £269.3m from £263m the previous year, with profit before tax growing 11% to £23.7m from £21.4m.
Though clearly an anti-climax after last year’s successes, the results are nevertheless robust, given that Irwin Mitchell’s reporting period ran to end of April 2020, thus encompassing the first full month of coronavirus lockdown.
The eagle-eyed reader may notice that the turnover and profit figures for 2018/19 differ from those stated this time last year when revenue was reported to be £263.2m and profit was £21.3m. The firm said the difference was due to a change in accounting policy which saw a Prior Year Adjustment.
Irwin Mitchell Group chief executive Andrew Tucker commented: ‘I’m pleased to say that despite being faced with difficult circumstances in relation to Covid-19, we had a good end to the year. Our profit increased by 11%, cash flows were positive and our balance sheet is stronger than 12 months ago. These are however extremely challenging times for everyone and there’s understandably a lot of uncertainty.’
Tucker noted that he was proud of the way the business has adapted to the new coronavirus environment and how it adopted new processes to connect with clients. He was nevertheless wary of the challenges ahead.
‘The heightened pace of change will no doubt continue over the next 12 months and as we confront serious issues such as Covid-19 and Brexit, we will focus on ensuring we’re in a strong and sustainable position for the future,’ Tucker concluded.
The firm has continued to invest over the last year, making 13 partner-level appointments and promoting 11 new partners, along with 84 associate and senior associates.
A particular highlight last year was Irwin Mitchell becoming the official legal partner of the RFU, with England Rugby recently agreeing for the firm to take over the provision of its legal helpline and online legal document services for member clubs.