Legal and professional services firm Gateley 'well-placed to weather the storm'

Gateley has published a trading update ahead of the publication of its audited results for the financial year ended 30 April 2020.

The statement said: "Following a solid trading performance in the first half of the financial year and the further strengthening and diversification of the group's service offering through the completion of four earnings enhancing acquisitions, the COVID-19 disruption to trading constrained the pace of the group's growth in the final two months of FY20.

"Despite this, the board is pleased to report that revenue for FY20 will be not less than £108.0 million (compared with £103.5 million the year before).

The statement added: "The board believes that this solid revenue performance reflects the breadth and depth of the group's legal and consulting service lines and the resilient revenue streams that they yield.

"Many of the group's counter-cyclical service lines are presently extremely busy, including restructuring and dispute resolution, and staff from some of our transactional teams, who are less busy, have been redeployed to support this increased activity elsewhere in the group."

Rod Waldie, chief executive officer of Gateley, said: "The wellbeing of our staff remains our highest priority and I am delighted that our people are staying healthy and that the transition to remote working has gone smoothly.

"Our enforced, sudden move in March to operating the entire business on a remote platform was swiftly and seamlessly executed and this is a testament to the dedication and quality of the Gateley team, who have adjusted to this new way of working very well. I thank all my colleagues for their understanding during these difficult times.

"The current trading environment is full of uncertainties. With a stable and experienced management team, a resilient and diversified business model and a strong balance sheet, however, we believe that Gateley is well placed to weather the storm that is affecting all businesses.

"We continue to service our clients to the highest standard and expect to emerge, from the COVID-19 pandemic, in a strong position to capitalise on the opportunities to grow the business further which are likely to arise."