Minster Law has reported profits of £2 million for 2016, a year after recording a £23.4 million loss.
The profits announcement is contained in the firm’s first set of accounts to be published since it de-coupled from BGL Group last year. Under the terms of the transfer of ownership, BGL agreed to write off the balance of an outstanding loan of £39.8 million. Turnover rose from £37.2 million to £55.8 million year-on-year and sales costs fell from £43.6 million to £38.4 million.
The managing director of the personal injury firm, Michael Warren, said that the announcement marked a tremendous start for the business under its new ownership structure.
Warren explained that the increase in turnover was partly due to Minster Law settling cases more quickly, which had a positive effect on fee income, but also noted that the volatility of turnover is impacted by a change to accounting policy whereby Minster now values only those cases where liability has been admitted in its work in progress.
Warren said the firm’s operational efficiency programme in 2015/16, had delivered a 12% reduction in sales costs. “We expect to continue our focus on improving our processes during the next 18 months as we move to our central hub in Wakefield, which will enable us to make further investment in our digital transformation initiative.”
