Alternative Business Structure (ABS) Knights has recorded 64% growth in turnover in the last year to achieve £33.5m in revenue.
The growth is a significant increase on last year’s turnover figure of £20.5m. As a result, the business is set to enter the Legal Business 100 for the first time this year. The firm attributes the business’ impressive growth to the acquisition of Oxford firm Darbys in 2016, a purchase which added £10m in revenue over the year.
An early adopter of the ABS model, Knights is a full service business with 350 professionals and offices in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Chester, Cheltenham, Derby, Oxford and Wilmslow. Due to its ABS structure it obtained in January 2013, Knights is able to offer ‘non-law’ services to clients such as town planning, corporate finance, management consultancy and specialist tax advice.
Knights chief executive David Beech (pictured) commented: ‘We sort of made that [making the LB100] a mini goal four years ago, and now we’ve achieved it. It’s certainly nice to have got the business to grow.’
Beech added: ‘We feel we’ve only just started. We understand our business model, we’ve got a very strong culture. We’re aiming at the “second city” locations, we want to add to that when we find the right acquisitions.
‘We’re one of the few businesses in professional services that’s taken ownership and management outside of the professionals. When you do that you take away all the politics, conflict and competing for income.’
In other recent firm financials, London firm Forsters has posted a 9% increase in turnover, buoyed by strong results from the firm’s corporate, banking and private client teams. Profit per equity partner also rose slightly from £527,000 to £532,000.
Fladgate has announced a provisional 15% rise in turnover for 2016/17, with revenues up to £49.2m. It is the sixth consecutive year of double digit growth for the firm.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk
