Halton: Focus on higher-value, higher-margin claims
Manolete, the listed insolvency litigation funder, said has set out an ambitious growth plan after its latest financial results confirmed a record year in three key areas of the business.
The year to 31 March saw a record number of live cases, with the company working on 446 cases at year end, a rise of 6% on 2025.
Referrals were at an all-time high – rising by 15% to 1,027.
And Manolete’s forward book, the estimated value of open cases, shot up in value by 37% to £67m.
Large cases with predicted revenues of at least £500,000 make up £32m of the forward book. This time last year that figure stood at £21m. The average claim value rose from £124,000 in 2025 to £158,000 this year.
The number of completed cases and investments in new cases stayed relatively flat. Manolete completed 293 cases in 2026, just 1% more than in the previous year, and invested in 289 new cases, compared to 284 in 2025.
Realised revenue on completed cases was down to £28m, a fall of nearly 6.5%.
Manolete said this drop was “in line with expectations” due to a number of large case completions being pushed back to 2027.
But gross margins reached 37%, up five percentage points.
Chief executive Mena Halton, who was appointed last August, said:”FY26 was a year of strategic progress for Manolete, as we strengthened our team and new business development function to support the next phase of our growth.
“Our performance remained resilient over the year despite variability in the timing of case completions, and we made strong progress focusing on higher-value cases to drive future margin growth.”
The company said there were two factors driving the growth in margins; the settlement reached in one of the truck cartel claims it is backing – which led to Manolete receiving £3.2m and a 560% return on its cash investment – and a rise in the number of higher-value, higher-margin case completions.
Looking to the future, Manolete unveiled a series of “medium-term” targets: growing realised revenues by 50% to £42m, profit before tax margin from 0.4% to 12%, and revenue per completed case from £95,000 to £150,000.
Ms Halton added: “Our legal team is becoming more efficient and able to work a higher case volume through economies of scale as the legal team grows.
“The enlarged team enables the lawyers to focus on an optimum balance between legal work and business development that drives increased profitability.”
The medium-term goal is to improve revenue per lawyer from £1.9m to £2.3m.
Manolete’s share price continues to drop. It ended 2025 down a third from the start at 58p and closed on Friday at 36p.
Manolete describe the UK insolvency market as “significant” with “visible opportunities” for expansion.
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