Trading Update
Summary by AI BETAClose X
Knights Group Holdings plc
("Knights", the "Company" or the "Group")
Trading update for the six months ended 31 October 2025
Strong first half performance with a return to organic growth
Knights, the national legal and professional services business, today provides a trading update for the six months ended 31 October 2025.
The Group is expected to deliver a 30% increase in revenue from continuing operations4 to £103.2m (H1 FY25: £79.4m) and a return to organic growth, of c.3%, in the first half. This strong performance is expected to result in a 12% increase in underlying PBT1 from continuing operations4 to £16.4m (H1 FY25: £14.6m). Group underlying PBT margin, at 16% (H1 FY25: 18%) is broadly in line with our internal forecasts as we absorbed higher payroll taxes as anticipated and continued to invest in AI and technology.
Reduced debtor days2 of 32 as at 31 October 2025 (H1 FY25: 33 days) demonstrated the Group's continued working capital discipline and success in reducing typically higher lock up in acquired businesses. Net debt3 is expected to be £75.2m, (at 30 April 2025: £64.8m) after c.£15m cash paid in relation to acquisitions and capex of c.£3.5m, reflecting strong underlying cash conversion.
The Group has signed an extension with HSBC UK, AIB (GB) and NatWest to extend its current revolving credit facility of £100m for an additional year (on the same terms) until November 2028.
The business has continued to scale up, having added substantial teams in the West Midlands, the Thames Valley, the South East, and a smaller team in Cardiff, through acquisitions all of which are performing in line with expectations and integrating well.
Knights' reputation, collaborative culture, corporate model and growing network of offices continued to attract high calibre talent with 46 senior fee earners joining in the first half or due to start shortly (H1 FY25: 43). Importantly, annualised churn has remained low, in line with the step down in the second half of FY25 driven by engagement initiatives across the business.
David Beech, CEO of Knights, commented:
"The Group has delivered a strong first half performance, with 30% revenue growth including a return to organic growth. We have continued to scale up the business and have successfully integrated recent acquisitions whilst retaining our strong financial discipline across the business reflected in our strong cash generation.
"We expect the second half to benefit from recent hires and a full period contribution from the recent acquisitions, underpinning our confidence in delivering a full year performance in line with market expectations.
"Having put in place an extended operational management structure, we are confident we have the right team to drive the business forward and leverage our strengthened platform as we continue to drive growth beyond the current financial year."
Knights will provide further detail as part of its half year results announcement on 12 January 2026.
Ends
Footnotes
1 Underlying PBT excludes amortisation of acquired intangibles, non-underlying operating expenses, and non-underlying finance costs. Non-underlying operating expenses include transaction and onerous lease expenses, contingent acquisition payments, disposal of acquired assets, along with one-off restructuring and professional expenses, mainly incurred on acquisitions, through streamlining support functions or strategic reorganisations
2 Debtor days are calculated on a count back basis using the gross debtors at the period end and compared with total fees raised over prior months. Debtor days excludes the impact of acquisitions in the last quarter of the reporting period.
3 Net debt includes cash and cash equivalents, borrowings and acquired debt but excludes lease liabilities.
4 Continuing underlying performance excludes the Crime business which was acquired with IBB Law (completed on 4 April 2025). This business was non-core, as stated at the time of the acquisition, and we completed its sale on 18 July 2025. The business generated revenue of £0.2m and a loss before tax of £0.4m in the period.
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Knights |
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David Beech, CEO |
Via MHP Group |
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Deutsche Numis (Nomad and Broker) |
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Stuart Skinner, Kevin Cruickshank |
020 7260 1000 |
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MHP Group (Media enquiries) |
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Katie Hunt, Eleni Menikou |
07884 494112 |
Notes to Editors
Knights is a fast-growing legal and professional services business, ranked within the UK's top 50 largest law firms by revenue. Knights was one of the first law firms in the UK to move from the traditional partnership model to a corporate structure in 2012 and has since grown rapidly. Knights has specialists in all key areas of Corporate and Commercial law and Private Wealth services. It is focussed on key UK markets outside London and currently operates from 32 offices located in Ascot, Basildon, Beaconsfield, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Colchester, Exeter, Kings Hill, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading, Sheffield, Solihull, Stoke, Teesside, Uxbridge, Weybridge, Wilmslow, Worcester and York.
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