The owner of national firm Slater and Gordon went from making a £15m profit to recording a £2.9m loss in the space of a year, accounts have revealed.
Slater and Gordon Holdings UK Ltd, the firm’s parent company, also shed more than 200 staff as it sought to adjust its business model.
Revenue almost halved to £77.6m in the year to 31 December 2023 – the high figure the previous year was largely down to the settlement of the Volkswagen emissions group action for 71,000 claimants.
The business has evolved in recent years and sought in particular to move away from low-value personal injury work. Losses from discontinued operations were £2.2m last year and £6.8m the year before.
But the firm reports good progress in its restructuring plans and secured a new five-year financing facility with Harbour during 2023 worth £33m.
The report added: ‘Post year-end and looking forward during 2024/25, we continue to adapt to changes in the regulatory environment and we expect to make further progress in improving underlying performance by additional investment in our technology and optimising our processes particularly how we onboard our clients.’
Slater and Gordon Holdings Limited is the ultimate holding company of the Slater and Gordon UK Group, which has 12 offices across the UK and employs just over 1,000 people.
The firm moved to new offices in Manchester during the year and ‘significantly reduced’ its office footprint to cater to modern hybrid working practices.
The number of fee earners fell from 560 to 485, while headcount in the group’s shared services department was reduced from 539 to 370. The company reported redundancy costs of £783,000 incurred during 2023 (down from £919,000 the year before).
Work in progress is estimated to have been worth £124m by the end of the year.
In a release to go with the accounts publication, Slater and Gordon said it had experienced 12% growth in underlying personal injury revenues. The firm made ‘significant strides’ in consolidating services to focus on higher-value, more complex cases and agreed a partnership with a global technology services leader to improve onboarding of consumers.
Slater and Gordon chief executive Nils Stoesser said: ‘2023 was a successful year for the group mostly attributable to the exceptional expert talent we have working at Slater and Gordon. Alongside the significant case successes achieved on behalf of our clients, we made important strides in strengthening our financial position and investing in our infrastructure.’
