£590m loss for Slater & Gordon

AUSTRALIAN law firm Slater & Gordon has made an estimated loss of more than A$1bn after tax.

The company made a net loss after tax for the year ended June 30 of A$1.02bn (£590m) which the firm said “includes a significant level of goodwill, non-recurring structuring expenditure and refinancing costs”.

It told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) its net loss after tax in the second half of the financial year is projected at A$59.3m (£35m) and the net loss in the first half is A$958.3m (£555m).

Slater & Gordon has offices across the UK, including in Birmingham’s Maclaren Building.

Slater & Gordon managing director Andrew Grech told Lawyers Weekly: “Slater and Gordon’s FY16 performance is a story of two different halves. The results for the first half were extremely disappointing and well below expectations.”

“In the second half we have taken significant steps towards turning around the performance of the UK business.

“Whilst the UK performance improvement program is still in its early stages, the second half results indicate that our efforts are beginning to bear fruit.”