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Annual Report and Financial Statements

DWF Annual Report

Full annual report and financial statements 2020

Annual Report 2020

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Built for strength and resilience

Our purpose is to be a leading global provider of integrated legal and business services. That’s why we are transforming our own business, with technological innovation, outstanding sector specialists and advanced working practices. This translates into an entirely new, resilient, business model that benefits from significant recurring revenues from institutional clients in our key industry sectors of Insurance, Financial Services and Real Estate.

While the current environment is unprecedented, the Board is confident that the Group is well placed to continue to provide best service to our clients and benefit from future opportunities when the business environment normalises.

Read about DWF's annual report and financial statements below.

Chairman's Statement
Supporting our people, delivering for our clients

I am delighted to welcome you to our Annual Report and equally delighted to introduce myself as your new Chair. I have been the Chairman of DWF Group for a little over five weeks and so I want to begin by thanking my predecessor, and now Group CEO, Sir Nigel Knowles, and our Deputy Chairman, Chris Sullivan, for their contributions and support in helping me prepare this statement.

I am very pleased to have taken on the role of Chairman of DWF. It is a differentiated business in a highly competitive industry that is on the verge of a period of significant change. The Group is very well positioned to capitalise on this change, and I am looking forward to working with the Board to implement the strategy set out by Sir Nigel, aimed at taking DWF forward to a new phase of sustainable and profitable growth.

 

Read the Chairman's statement in full
Group Chief Executive Officer's Report
A resilient business model

The global legal industry is going through a period of significant change as new delivery models and service providers emerge to meet client demands for greater ease and efficiency. This trend is only likely to accelerate, as the economic consequences of COVID-19 force more in-house legal teams to challenge the established ways of doing things.

I am honoured to have been asked to lead the Group through this period of change, and am pleased to describe here some of what we have done through the course of FY20 – and beyond – to ensure DWF is well placed to capitalise on these market opportunities.

 

Read the Group Chief Executive Officer's report in full
Group Chief Financial Officer's Report
Strong performance

The Board recognises that the financial performance for the year ended 30 April 2020 (‘FY20’) was severely affected by COVID-19 in Q4, at a point in the year when the significant investments made since IPO were expected to support revenue growth. Despite these headwinds, revenues have grown by 10.9%, albeit with some short-term dilution to gross and net margins as a result of the shortfall in Q4 revenues, impacting profitability.

International and Connected Services continue to be the ‘growth engines’ of the business, with International growing 53.2%, helped by the acquisitions of K&L Gates in Poland and RCD in Spain. Connected Services grew by 13.0%, with good performances across the majority of the businesses, albeit overall growth was held back by underperformance in one practice group, which has since been restructured.

 

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Statements and Reports

Strategic report

 
 
Strategic report

Innovation is at the forefront of our strategy to provide a competitive and differentiated offering for our clients. We believe innovation will help us become the chosen partner for outsourced legal and Connected Services. As a listed company, we now have a remuneration model which includes equity incentives for our partners and fee earners that we believe is unique amongst our peers.

 

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Governance

 
 
Governance

This report sets out how we have ensured corporate governance remains the foremost consideration for the Group, to satisfy both the high standards of listed company corporate governance and those specific to a regulated legal services business.

 

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Financial statements

 
 
Financial statements

The report includes full financial statements. Read them in detail here.

 

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Media Centre

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Press release

2020 Full year results for the year ended 30 April 2020

Strong recovery in FY21 first quarter following COVID-19 impacted FY20.

 
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Press release

Trading update for the first quarter

Strong recovery in FY21 first quarter following COVID-19 impacted FY20

 
Small panel press release
Press release

Appointment of New Chairman and Deputy Chairman

DWF, the global legal business, is pleased to announce that, following a thorough recruitment process, Jonathan Bloomer will join the Board as Chairman with effect from 1 August 2020.