Saralis: Optimistic about the market
Listed personal injury group NAHL is poised to be in a “net cash position” after increasing its revenue by 5% to £18.3m and its profit before tax by 31% to £2.3m.
The group said it was also due to receive a further £1.9m this month after settling a long-running contract dispute with a supplier and had entered into an agreement to sell Searches UK, a supplier of conveyancing searches, for £1.2m.
Announcing its interim results for the six months to the end of June this year, NAHL said: “As a result of the settlement of the contract dispute, the board expects profit and cash generation for the current year to be materially higher than current market expectations.”
Meanwhile, the Competition and Markets Authority has unconditionally cleared the sale of Searches UK and, as a result, the transaction is expected to complete imminently.
NAHL is made up predominantly of the law firm National Accident Law (NAL), lead generator National Accident Helpline and its law firm panel, Law Together – a joint venture alternative business structure with HCC Solicitors – and critical care division Bush & Co.
The group said net debt had reduced to £1.1m, 66% lower than the figure for the end of last year and the lowest level of debt since NAHL was floated on AIM in 2014.
Following settlement of the contract dispute and completion of the Searches UK sale, the group said it would be in a net cash position.
Revenue from its consumer legal operations grew by 7% to £9.9m in the first half of 2026, including a 12% increase in revenue derived from processing claims by NAL. Underlying operated profit increased by 41% compared to the first half of last year.
NAHL generated 7,260 new enquiries in this period, 11% up on the previous year. “Whilst the average enquiry acquisition cost in the period was higher than the prior year, the group has witnessed an increase in the quality, and therefore value, of enquiries generated which is reflected in a more valuable mix of work.”
Compared to the first half of last year, NAHL reduced slightly the number of enquiries placed in NAL, from 2,200 to 2,100, and increased the number given to Law Together from 1,610 to 1,840, with the rest going to its panel firms.
NAL continued to “drive down the length of the claims settlement cycle through process improvements”, while benefitting from increases in average claim value, “in part through litigating more cases”.
However, the board expected the number of settlements in NAL to be lower in the second half of this year due to the smaller number of enquiries given to NAL over the past two years. “This is expected to result in lower revenues and cash being generated from settlements.”
James Saralis , chief executive of NAHL, said the company had to be “careful” in how it “deployed and managed” claims and all three options had their “pros and cons”.
NAL offered the highest return but needed the longest time to generate cash, the external panel firms produced cash “fairly quickly” but at the lowest return, while Law Together was “somewhere in between”.
Mr Saralis said NAL had “historically” focused on road traffic accident claims, though a “growing number” of its cases were different – employer’s, public or occupiers’ liability.
“We need to grow capability and the number of fee-earners to process these types of claims.” NAL was recruiting “all the time”.
Mr Saralis added on the personal injury market generally: “I think there are lots of opportunities and I am optimistic about the market we operate in.”