DSW Capital says annual results will be ‘significantly ahead of expectations’
DSW Capital, the Daresbury-based business advisory firm, issued a bullish trading update for the year ended March 31, 2022, today.
The company, a challenger professional services licence network and owner of the Dow Schofield Watts brand, said it has continued to trade strongly following its flotation last December.
It said expected revenue and adjusted pre-tax profit are ahead of market expectations, subject to audit.
Expected network revenue for financial year 2022 of £18.3m, compared with £15.3m in 2021, is significantly ahead of market expectations and 19.6% ahead of the prior year.
The DSW Network, which comprises 20 licensee businesses, benefited from high levels of demand in the professional services sector throughout the period and, in February 2022, DSW was named by Experian as one of the top 20 most active corporate finance advisers in the UK in 2021.
Average revenue per fee earner increased by 15.8% in the period to £227,000 (FY21: £196,000). As anticipated, the heightened profile of DSW resulting from the IPO augmented recruitment across the licensee businesses. Fee Earners at March 31, 2022, totalled 88, a 14.3% increase on the prior year.
As previously announced, DSW Capital successfully executed on its strategy to expand its service lines following IPO with the addition of DSW Asset Based Lending Risk Management in January 2022.
This brought the total number of licensees to 20 across 11 service lines. Since the period end, the group has welcomed two new partners in Scotland, expanding both the service offering and presence to include Edinburgh and Glasgow.
DSW Capital chief executive, James Dow, said: “These results are underpinned by the significant market demand for DSW’s expert service lines and our performance illustrates the considerable benefits of our platform model, which empowers ambitious professionals to seize the opportunities in the market.
“The autonomy and flexibility which the DSW model gives to fee earners is a true differentiator in our market and we believe that it will continue to attract high quality professionals seeking greater flexibility in a post-COVID world.”
DSW Capital said it will be presenting and exhibiting at the Mello 2022 investor conference in London on May 25.
DSW Capital was established in 2002, by three KPMG alumni and its platform model is disrupting the traditional model of accounting professional services firms.
The December IPO gave the company a market capitalisation of £21.4m, based on a share price of 100p. At the close of trading yesterday its shares stood at 107p, valuing the company at £22.99m.
Shares in the company jumped in early trading today to 129.50p per share, just shy of its highest level so far of 129.94p.
