Knights sees revenues lift past £200m after string of acquisitions
Legal and professional services firm Knights has seen its revenues lift by over 25 per cent.
Posting its results for the year ended 30 April, Knights, which has multiple locations in Yorkshire, posted revenue of £207.7m for the period, up 28 per cent on last year.
It came as the company saw its reported pre-tax profits slip from £12.3m to £10.2m year-on-year. Knights said the shift had come on the back of costs related to acquisitions made by the firm during the year.
Underlying pre-tax profits lifted 19 per cent to £33.2m.
Speaking on the results, David Beech, CEO of Knights, said in a statement: ''I am pleased to report that we grew revenues by 28 per cent year on year, doubling them over the last five years.
“We also maintained strong underlying profit before tax margins while investing in strengthening our operational platform.
“We delivered a strong performance in the year, with double digit organic growth in the second half, contributions from recent acquisitions, and good cash generation assisting the self-funding of acquisition costs in the year.”
In June of last year, Knights completed the acquisition of full service legal firm Birkett Long LLP, as well as financial planning platform Birkett Long IFA LLP.
This was followed in August by Knights acquiring regional law firm Rix & Kay LLP, in a move which saw new colleagues joining the firm’s existing teams in Kent and Sussex.
The acquisitions came as part of the firm’s plan to expand in the South East of England.
Knights has now made a string of 29 acquisitions over the last 14 years.
Following the acquisition of Thursfields in September 2024, which strengthened the Group's presence in the West Midlands, in May 2025, Knights brought its colleagues from Worcester and Kidderminster together in one space.
Mr Beech added: “Our continued investment in the business has strengthened our ability to take advantage of opportunities in our growing and structurally changing regional segment of the UK legal sector.
“Having made a positive start to the current financial year, we look forward to delivering continued organic growth, complemented by our value enhancing acquisition strategy, in the current year and beyond.''
Knights also announced that it had maintained its net debt at £65.4m during the year, compared to £64.8m a year prior.
The firm said this came after it spent around £17m in acquisition related payments.
Knights recruited 39 new senior recruits during the year, with the firm’s churn rate maintained at 10 per cent.