Ward: confident about the future

In its first trading statement since listing on AIM last month, national law firm Gateley said that it expects its 2014/15 revenue to rise 10% on the previous 12 months.

Issuing a pre-close trading update for the year ended 30 April 2015, it said: “The board is pleased to announce that the business continued to perform well in the second half of its financial year.

“Revenues in the second half continued to demonstrate strong fee income growth and demand for Gateley’s services and as a result full year revenue for the Group is expected to be not less than £60 million, representing a 10% increase over 2014 and yielding an EBITDA in line with management expectations.”

CEO Michael Ward said: “We are encouraged to report such a strong trading statement, our first as a public company. Post-admission to AIM, Gateley continues to trade very well and we look to the future with confidence.”

Meanwhile, Gateley’s listing “shows a new way forward in opening up the market through flexible regulatory practice”, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said yesterday.

In a statement issued yesterday, the SRA explained how it supported Gateley’s bid for plc status “by tailoring its approach to account for the risks and concerns associated with this new type of public ownership, and assured standards by advising on the systems and controls needed as a plc”.

SRA chief executive Paul Philip said: “Innovation is an important driver of growth in the legal sector. It is good to see the emergence of new business models bringing investment into the sector. Our work with Gateley plc on their flotation is part of our commitment to freeing up firms to do business, supporting competition and development.”

Gateley partner Andrew Evans added: “We started working with the SRA early on in the process as we were both walking some novel pathways, and the floatation involved some tricky issues around the interaction of the Legal Services Act and the Code of Conduct.

“The SRA was very helpful and engaged fully with us in working through and resolving these issues, particularly in working within the tight deadlines, short timescales and changing landscape that the floatation sometimes involved.”

Gateley will announce its preliminary results for 2014/15 to the market on 15 September.