Beech: Significant progress
Listed law firm Knights has significantly reduced staff churn, according to half-year results which showed a 30% rise in turnover to £130m, albeit most of it from acquisitions.
The consolidator achieved 3% in organic growth and described the overall figure as “particularly pleasing given the broader market backdrop, demonstrating the strength of our diversified service lines, our ability to attract and retain high calibre talent, and the value we are creating through our acquisition strategy”.
Underlying profit before tax increased 13% to £16m in the six months to 31 October 2025, representing an underlying margin of 16%.
This was two percentage points lower than the year before, “which was in line with our expectations as we absorbed higher payroll taxation and the impact of interest rate movements and continued to invest in technology, including AI”.
Reported profit before tax fell from £9m to £2.4m “as a result of higher non-underlying costs relating to the acquisitions in the period and prior years” – this included redundancy costs of £1.7m..
Knights completed two major acquisitions in the 12 months to 30 April 2025 – Thursfields and IBB Law – and has since announced three more: a £16.6m deal for Essex law firm Birkett Long, followed by 33-lawyer Sussex firm Rix & Kay and then small Cardiff firm Le Gros Solicitors to mark its entry into Wales. This was Knights’ 26th acquisition since listing.
Knights calculates churn as the number of qualified fee-earners who had been employed by the group for more than a year who left during the period as a percentage of all fee-earners.
Yesterday’s results annualised the churn rate for the six months at 9%, compared to 20% a year earlier.
Engagement and leadership initiatives introduced in the past year include increased mentoring from client services directors, more face-to-face time in the offices, and regular forums for colleagues to come together in the Stoke headquarters.
“They are enabling a stronger team culture and better understanding of the breadth of our services and our business strategy which is supporting greater cross-collaboration, with an increasing number of teams being formed across multiple offices to deliver the best solutions to clients.”
Knights chief executive David Beech, who will be speaking at our Law Firm Growth Summit on 18 March in London, said: “The first half has been a period of significant progress for Knights, as we firmly returned the group to organic growth, while continuing to scale the platform we have developed over many years…
“We have also significantly expanded our presence in the South East, and Wales, whilst effectively integrating prior period acquisitions including our largest to date [IBB].”
Knights reported net debt hitting £75m after paying £15m in relation to acquisitions.
The board declared an interim dividend of 1.94p per share, 10% higher than last year’s.
Our annual review of the performance of listed legal businesses recorded that Knights did the best in 2025, with its share price jumping by 70% to 179p. It closed yesterday at 185p.
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