Legal and professional services group Ampa, which is best known for its full-service law firm Shakespeare Martineau, has experienced 14% organic revenue growth in FY 23/24 – reporting £119.2m turnover.
The group’s distributable profit was also up at £30.4m – a rise of almost 20% compared to the previous financial year.
Describing itself as both ‘purposeful and profitable’, Ampa has invested heavily in its legal and portfolio brands and responsible business agenda since the inception of its House of BrandsTM strategy four years ago, resulting in significant growth across the group and B-Corp certification in 2023.
Ampa’s life and business legal brands – Shakespeare Martineau (including its Scotland practice) and South East law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter – saw more than a 10% uptick in revenue. While the group’s portfolio brands, which includes consumer brand Lime Solicitors, planning and design consultancy Marrons, uninsured loss recovery experts Corclaim, cyber security consultancy CSS Assure and financial advisory firm Coadax, saw a collective hike of 21%.
Sarah Walker-Smith, CEO of Ampa, said: “There have been a number of pressures on us as a business and on our clients; rising costs and inflation have posed challenges, but our strategy to build a sustainable, profitable and resilient group of businesses is working.
“We’ve proven that it is possible to have a high-performance culture that’s flexible and supportive – benefitting the group as a whole.”
Having made a series of significant investments in infrastructure and support functions in previous financial years, including office expansions, technology and people, Ampa is starting to see its forecasted financial return from increased scale and efficiencies.
The group has also combined centralised functions such as IT, risk and compliance, finance, marketing and HR, under the name Ampa Group Services (AGS).
Sarah explained: “Pooling expertise centrally provides a bigger pot of skills, intelligence and tools; ensuring we optimise productivity for those delivering services directly to end clients. AGS’ purpose is to drive productivity and make lives easier, making sure the support systems work together effectively and efficiently.
“We are confident for the future and, as with any high growth business, overall outcome and management of working capital remains a priority for us.”
This is the second year Ampa has submitted financial information to the survey as a group, having previously reported under Shakespeare Martineau. Ampa is not a trading brand; it is neither client-facing nor fee-earning. Instead, it provides the infrastructure and professional service teams needed to support its growing House of BrandsTM. Ampa’s equity members also invest at group-wide level.
This year, Ampa has welcomed 14 partner hires (including 12 members) and promoted four people into the equity membership. Ampa also promoted more than 100 people across its legal and support teams and created 168 new jobs.
Ampa continues to be open to conversations with ambitious, like-minded legal brands and lateral hires to join the growing group.