Knights, which has office alongside Channel 4 in Majestic building in Leeds, delivers 22 per cent rise in revenues

Knights today revealed that its revenue increased by 22% to £125.6m for the year ended 30 April 2022, while the underlying profit before tax fell by 2% to £18.1m.

David Beech, CEO of Knights, commented: “We have delivered another robust financial performance despite the short-term challenges experienced in the fourth quarter, with a positive start to the new financial year supported by the acquisitions completed in prior years.

“I am extremely grateful to the support our people have given to me and the business in recent weeks and we have a great culture and high morale which will enable us to continue to make good progress in the current year.

“Our ability to attract and retain top industry talent remains strong, while our pipeline of high quality acquisition targets continues to grow.

“I’m very pleased not only with the level of growth we have delivered over the last ten years since we corporatised, growing from two offices and £9m of revenue to a Top 50 law firm with 22 offices, and revenue of over £125m but also with our continued discipline to deliver market leading working capital days and cash generation.

“We continue to execute our strategy and remain confident in our outlook, as we leverage our enhanced scale and national reputation to realise our ambition to be the leading legal and professional services firm outside London.”

Knights said its growth in the year principally reflected the impact of acquisitions.

The statement added: "Throughout the year we continued to realise our vision of building the UK’s leading legal and professional services business outside London. We expanded our geographic footprint, strengthening our presence in Yorkshire and entering the North East and East of England as we welcomed more high quality businesses and people into our group.

"As we entered the new financial year, we extended our presence in the South East, meaning that as Knights celebrates a decade since its corporatisation, we are now a diversified business of truly national scale, operating from offices across the UK. As we grow the business, the board continually reviews Knights’ corporate structure, operational infrastructure, and processes to ensure they will support the continued scaling up of the business."

The statement added: "During the year, we faced unusual challenges, including the emergence of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, leading to disruption within the business due to increased employee sickness and absence during what is historically our most significant trading period in the fourth quarter of the financial year.

"Despite this, the group delivered underlying profit before tax of £18.1m, reflecting the resilience of our business model and agility of our management team.

"In addition to the two acquisitions announced in the financial year, we also completed the acquisition of Keebles LLP in June 2021 (exchanged at the end of FY21), a firm established in Sheffield over a century ago with a strong corporate and real estate offering.

"This was a significant acquisition for the group, complementing Knights’ existing presence in Nottingham and Leeds with a leading position in South Yorkshire. This business is now fully integrated into our business, making a positive contribution to revenue and profit.

In May last year, Knights revealed it has the capacity to employ up to 300 people at its new office in Leeds. Last year, Knights announced the completion of its move to the historic Majestic building in Leeds, which is also the new national headquarters of Channel 4.

The Majestic was built in 1921 as a “super-cinema” and later became a bingo hall and a nightclub.