Shares recently highlighted the growing trend of law firms joining the stock market for a myriad of reasons. Since then a further three companies have signalled their intentions to follow suit and float on the stock market.
On Wednesday, Anexo is due to join the junior AIM market, targeting a £110m market cap based on a placing price of 100p per share.
The company is not a typical legal services provider. It focuses on the niche market of acting for drivers looking to claim credit hire costs from insurance companies.
It provides replacement cars to hard up drivers whose own vehicle is off the road because of a no-fault incident, but without the necessary cash to pay for their own temporary replacement. Anexo pursues third party insurers for the cost of the car hire.
The company also specialises in road traffic accident claims that involve an element of credit hire. Apart from pursuing the costs of a replacement vehicle, it also uses Bond Turner, a Liverpool-based law firm to litigate for personal injury claims resulting from an accident although the company says this is a ‘by-product’ of the credit hire business and not a focus.
Bond Turner, part of Anexo also offers other litigation services including professional and clinical negligence as well as commercial litigation.
If Anexo reaches a £110m valuation, it will be the biggest legal services company float to date. For 2017, the company had revenues of £44.8m and pre-tax profit of £14.6m
KNIGHTS LAW
A more conventional law firm Knights is also planning to float this month. It offers a range of legal services including corporate and commercial law.
The company has already lined up its first acquisition on admission to AIM, Manchester-based Turner Parkinson. Knights will use its admission to aid in its planned recruitment of over 200 fee earners and growing its office numbers to more than nine from its current six.
Knights counts among its clients the likes of supermarket Lidl, engineering company Rolls-Royce (RR.) and bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair (PPB).
For the year ended 30 April, Knights reported revenue of £34.9m with adjusted operating profit of £6.8m.
The company plans to use part of the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering (IPO) to pay down the majority of its debt, generate working capital and other ‘corporate purposes’.
DWF
UK top 25 firm DWF may also join the stock market, although it is also looking at ‘number of options available’. If it does decide to IPO the company could be valued at up to £1bn, dwarfing all the other legal companies that have floated so far.
‘If we were to proceed with an IPO, we believe that it would enable us to achieve our strategic objectives more quickly, while also enhancing our ability to attract and retain the best talent and to incentivise our people by aligning them through offering ownership within the business,’ the company says in a statement.
DWF is an international full service legal services company. If it joins the market it could pave the way for others to follow, such as Silver Circle, a top 10 law firm.
