Half Year Results
Revenue up 34.5% at ‘challenger’ professional services firm
DSW Capital – the owner of the fast-growing professional services network Dow Schofield Watts – has announced its half year results with a continued strong performance. For the six months to 30 September 2022, the Group has achieved revenue rising to £9.8m, up 34.5% compared to the same period in 2022 at £7.3m and is currently on track to deliver results for the year ended 31 March 2023 in line with market expectations.
Total income from licensees increased by 40.4% to £1.6m compared to £1.2m in for the same period in 2022. This has resulted in an adjusted pre-tax profit of £0.9m, up from £0.8m in the same period last year.
DSW Capital operates a platform business model that provides a flexible and autonomous alternative to traditional accounting and professional services firms. The company is based in Daresbury with additional offices including Manchester, Leeds, London, Reading, and Aberdeen with two new offices opening in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The statement said that the number of fee earners across the Network increased to 93, up 14.8% year on year, demonstrating the attractiveness of the licence model and the brand’s heightened profile following its flotation on AIM in December 2021. There will be an interim dividend of 1.76p per share.
Demand for its services, which are primarily SME focused, remains strong and the Business Recovery team is continuing to see an increase in activity. Dow Schofield Watts moved up Experian’s rankings to 10th Most Active Corporate Finance Advisor in the UK in the first half of 2022, compared to 13th in the first half of 2021. This is in spite of the reducing deal volumes across the wider market. It has also been shortlisted for a number of awards, including ‘Best Newcomer Award’ at the AIM Awards 2022.
James Dow, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Activity in the Network’s primary market, the SME sector, has remained strong to date and resilient to the many economic challenges facing the UK. Whilst a downturn is likely to affect corporate finance and transaction services within the Network, we would expect some of that to be offset by an increase in the demand for insolvency, restructuring, and debt advisory services, for which we are already seeing strong demand as corporate distress levels rise.
“We continue to seek to grow the Group through diversification with the addition and expansion of new service lines and to recruit professionals in other disciplines to reduce the M&A weighting of our licence fees.”