Listed law firm Ince Group, which previously operated as Gordon Dadds, has produced impressive double-digit revenue growth in its first full financial year since the acquisition of shipping specialist Ince & Co.
Revenues soared an impressive 87% to £98.5m, narrowly missing the £100m target set by Ince Group CEO Adrian Biles last November, while operating profit rose a hefty 72% to £26.2m from £15.2m last year. However, Ince’s organic growth produced a more muted 5% growth, according to the firm’s announcement on the London Stock Exchange. Moreover, in the first quarter of the current financial year, the firm confirmed revenues were down 10% due to the economic impact of Covid-19. Geographically, the UK remained the primary source of the firm’s revenues, producing £63.9m, while China produced £19.6m and Dubai’s output stood at £4.9m.
Commenting on the results, Biles (pictured) said: ‘We can justifiably claim that this has been a year of great progress. While we narrowly missed our £100m revenue target, the fact that these results were achieved despite the disruption caused by Covid-19 shows the quality of the business we are building.’
The announcement from the group was followed by a modest 4% drop in share price, which sat at 27.3p as of this morning (3 August). In January of this year, Ince endured an almost 50% drop in share price, from 89p to 45p, after calling for an additional £16m in finance to reload its balance sheet following the acquisition of Ince & Co in 2018
Meanwhile, in March, Ince cancelled its interim dividend of 2p a share, worth around £1.4m, after the board concluded it was no longer confident of delivering results in line with expectations for both the six months and year to 31 March 2020. It also cited the inevitable impact on cash flows and uncertainty around the collection of fees as a result of the pandemic. In its latest financial announcement, Ince also confirmed borrowing had increased from £2.9m to £9m, on top of £14m raised in equity capital earlier in the year.
