Law firm sees revenues, profits and reserves grow following strong second half

Legal and professional services firm, Gateley, will announce improved revenues and pre-tax profits for the year to April 30, and recommence dividend payments, it confirmed today.

In a trading update ahead of publication of its final results on July 13, the firm said it entered the second half of the year with high activity levels, strong trading momentum, and a sense of optimism and confidence, despite the ongoing uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gateley, which has offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham and Dubai, said trading continued to improve throughout the second half, resulting in the group generating revenue during the six months of not less than £69.5m, an increase of more than 20% over the previous year.

Full year revenues will be not less than £120m, compared with £109.8m the previous year, an increase of more than 9.3% for the year as a whole.

Prudent cost and cash management measures, initiated by the board at the start of the pandemic and augmented by the stronger than anticipated second half trading, have yielded a net cash position at April 30, 2021, of £20m, significantly ahead of management’s previous expectations.

The group expects to report 2021 profit before tax of not less than £16m, compared with £14.8m for 2020, an increase of not less than 8.1%.

Gateley also said it is recommencing dividend payments to shareholders in line with its previous policy of distributing up to 70% of profit after tax.

The board will propose a dividend for 2021 in the group’s final results announcement on July 13. The interim dividend of 2.5p per ordinary share will be paid on June 28.

Chief executive, Rod Waldie, said: “I am delighted with this excellent performance, which is testament to our culture and the contribution of everyone working at Gateley, without whose commitment we would not have been able to deliver such a strong result.

“I thank the whole team for their hard work, diligence, and resilience, in the face of what has been an unprecedented period.”

He added: “I also thank our clients for their support throughout FY21 and for giving us the opportunity to work with them on high quality mandates.

“This has been a turbulent year for all of our stakeholders, but our diverse and highly regarded legal and consultancy offering has enabled us to continue to provide excellent service to our clients whilst growing our business.

“We are carrying a strong pipeline of work into FY22 and are looking forward to continuing to grow the group, both organically and via acquisition.”