DWF grew its topline 8% to £466m in the year ending 30 April 2025, the firm’s first full financial year since it delisted from the London Stock Exchange following a buyout by private equity firm Inflexion.
The increase marked a slowdown from the 14% growth DWF achieved the year before and was in line with FY23, when it grew revenue 8.6% but net income dropped nearly 39% to £12.4m amid high inflation, interest rate increases and variable demand. Since being taken private by Inflexion in October 2023, the 1,100-lawyer firm no longer discloses profits.
Matthew Doughty, who took over as group chief executive officer on 1 August, said of the firm’s latest results: “This is another strong performance for our business, demonstrating the value of our integrated legal and business services offering and the trust our clients place in us. These results are a credit to our colleagues around the world, whose dedication ensures we continue to deliver exceptional outcomes for our clients.”
The firm’s growth in FY25 was supported by the hire of a 62-strong team including nine partners from the London market team of top Australian independent Hall & Wilcox in February, in a move that boosted its insurance litigation practice in Australia.
Over the course of the year the firm also joined forces with the nine-partner insurance and civil litigation team of Canadian firm Bélanger Sauvé, in the process establishing Montreal as its fourth Canadian location, and hired the head of Hogan Lovells’ Warsaw office and her 11-strong corporate and commercial team.
It also promoted 13 lawyers to partner and strengthened its leadership with the hire of former EY UK and Ireland head Steve Varley as independent non-executive chair.
Going the other way, in April the firm launched a redundancy consultation for more than 100 staff in its commercial services and central services divisions, citing changing client needs.
That followed it axing around 160 jobs during 2020 and 2021 as part of a cost-cutting programme brought in by Doughty’s predecessor, Nigel Knowles, after the firm ran into difficulties during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Doughty noted that during Knowles’ five-year tenure as CEO, DWF had grown revenue by around 60% and more than trebled profitability.
“[Knowles’] leadership has positioned DWF as a stronger, more ambitious business, and I look forward to building on this momentum with the continued support of our colleagues and our growth partner, Inflexion,” he said. “We are entering the new financial year with confidence, backed by strong first-quarter growth. We remain focused on sustainable growth, deepening our client relationships and delivering the highest quality service across all of our markets.”
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