Manchester commercial law firm DWF has today issued a profit warning in a Covid-19 trading update.
The listed law firm, which employs 4,000 people across 33 offices, said pre-tax profits and revenue at the year end are anticipated to be below previous expectations, while net debt is expected to be higher than anticipated.
The group said revenue for the year ending April 30 will show “high single-digit growth” and total growth of between 15 and 20 per cent.
The group said the Covid-19 outbreak has coincided with the final quarter of the financial year, which is “typically the most important to the group’s financial performance”.
DWF has implemented a series of cost-saving measures, which are expected to deliver around £10m in cash savings during the 2021 financial year and £13.5m cash savings in the 2022 financial year, it said.
The group, which has invested in a lateral hire programme throughout the financial year, has said recently-joined partners are taking longer to “ramp up” their practices due to the current environment.
However, it said the board is confident new joiner productivity will progress as expected once “normal business environment” returns.
DWF said the payment of any final dividend will be determined later in the year once the group's financial results for full year are known and have been considered by the board.
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The group said: “The health and wellbeing of our people and clients is paramount, and steps have been taken to enable all of our c. 4,200 people to be able to work on an agile basis in order to follow lockdown and self-isolation measures and to mitigate the impact on client service.
“Client feedback has been very positive and has generated a number of new opportunities that will benefit the group in the year ahead, as the investment we have made in our delivery platforms has helped the group to provide a wider range of services to clients.”