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KEYS Keystone Law Group Plc

470.00
0.00 (0.0%)
01 Dec 2023 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
Keystone Law Group Plc LSE:KEYS London Ordinary Share GB00BZ020557 ORD 0.2P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  0.00 0.0% 470.00 9,149 08:00:25
Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price
460.00 480.00 470.00 465.00 470.00
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
Legal Services 75.26M 6.73M 0.2145 21.91 147.57M
Last Trade Time Trade Type Trade Size Trade Price Currency
16:42:45 O 457 470.00 GBX

Keystone Law (KEYS) Latest News

Keystone Law (KEYS) Discussions and Chat

Keystone Law Forums and Chat

Date Time Title Posts
12/10/202317:22Keystone Law Group186

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Posted at 01/12/2023 08:20 by Keystone Law Daily Update
Keystone Law Group Plc is listed in the Legal Services sector of the London Stock Exchange with ticker KEYS. The last closing price for Keystone Law was 470p.
Keystone Law currently has 31,398,742 shares in issue. The market capitalisation of Keystone Law is £147,574,087.
Keystone Law has a price to earnings ratio (PE ratio) of 21.91.
This morning KEYS shares opened at 470p
Posted at 24/9/2023 06:59 by boozey
Tipped today in the Mail on Sunday:
Posted at 18/9/2023 08:55 by maddox
Great to see KEYS have rediscovered their ability to recruit lawyers to their platform. To have an 'FY 2024 outlook comfortably ahead of current market expectations' is wonderful in the current economic gloom. This underlines the uncorrelated nature of legal services sector as an investment proposition. Positive potential read-across to other legal firms with 12.2% increase in client billing. It would be useful to get a more detailed understanding of the sub-sector drivers to the increased billing.

More specifically, KEYS attractive business model shines through as this 14.9% growth in revenue translates into a 29.3% increase in PBT to £5.3 million (1H23: £4.1m) and 16.2% increase in basic eps 12.2p (1H23: 10.5p). The capital light nature of the business then generates strong operating cash conversion of 113.3%.
This high gearing is a huge plus point.

Regards Maddox
Posted at 10/5/2022 11:36 by alphabeta4
I can only assume Maddox IC are referring to keys central staff, but yes, in terms of lawyer wage inflation that would help keys revenue and will be a bigger number than their central costs increase.
Posted at 28/4/2022 13:50 by maddox
Investors Chronicle KEYS Buy 705p 'Keystone stands out from legal crowd'
'Law firm’s clever business delivers strong growth, in spite of tight jobs market'

The journalist Jemma Slingo says 'Wage inflation is a big problem for law firms, whose success is rooted in the quality of their solicitors. So far, however, Keystone seems to have dodged the worst.'

Surely, but tell me if I'm wrong, KEYS benefits from wage inflation - as they don't pay their Lawyers - they take a slice of their income.
Posted at 28/4/2022 11:57 by maddox
Thanks tkamp,

The Knights (KGH)update now appears anomalous, perhaps attributing to the market what was more an in-house problem? RBGP's subsequent strong results put that concern to rest in my mind. Also, I may be wrong, but I doubt that Russian Oligarchs are driving KEYS' Lawyers' revenue.

As to recession, it's the largely uncorrelated nature of the Legal Services Market that I find appealing. Some parts of the Legal Services Sector do well out of a poor business climate and disruption (Litigation, Family, Restructuring, Insolvency) that balance those that are supressed (Property, Corporate activity).

How KEYS respond to changing market conditions is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Thanks for your thoughts again, always good to have different perspectives.

Regards Maddox
Posted at 28/4/2022 11:33 by tkamp
Well just generally speaking all economic indicators are looking troublesome and seems likely the word will go into recession soon. Couple that with the outflow of Russians out of the UK/London (who I'm sure provide a fair share of legal work) and the weak outlook from Knights a while back and it seemed fairly plausible Keystone too would see weakened demand
Posted at 28/4/2022 09:22 by maddox
These are a sparkling set of results (FY to 30Jan22) - particularly in the circumstances of Covid. Really demonstrates the strength in the KEYS platform approach driving high-quality earnings.

Whilst the growth in the number of Principle Lawyers recruited grew by a respectable 6.7% during the year the revenue grew 26.5% in a strong legal services market. However, this translated into PBT growth of 55% and basic eps up 42.7% showing superior Operational Gearing and Cash generation - 102% cash conversion. The final dividend of 11.2p gives a +48% for the full year and a 10p Special Dividend on-top.

KEYS' capital-light and operationally-light platform model is clearly strategically strong. Based on the outlook statement, it remains attractive:

>> The current financial year has started well with lawyers remaining busy.

>> We have made a fair start on recruitment, continuing to attract high quality candidates.

>> Well placed to deliver another strong performance.

Can anyone find something of concern in these results - because I can't?

Regards, Maddox
Posted at 14/4/2022 08:27 by tkamp
Keystone's USP isn't remote working though, or it's only a tiny part of it. No lawyer left their old job to join Keystone simply so that they could work from their own home, they joined Keystone because they could basically 'be their own boss', i.e. only accept work and clients they want to work with, keep a fixed share of the earnings derived from these clients, and don't have to participate in office politics to secure a promotion / meet your annual targets, etc. That is something Keystone offers that traditional law firms do not offer, and likely never will. And I am pretty sure the attraction of that value proposition of being your own boss has only strengthened since COVID.
Posted at 22/3/2022 14:09 by tkamp
Does anyone know what is up with the share price today?
Posted at 21/2/2022 18:26 by km18
...from last year...

Company overview:
Keystone Law was established in 2002 by a group of pioneering lawyers. The firm bases its business model on modern working practices and offers bespoke and dynamic service. KEYS is serving thousands of clients , including RBS, Siemens, Bosch, BBC, through its 350 lawyers and 45 support staff. In their latest report the company confirms its commitment to boost organic growth through recruitment with principles increase from 369 to 386 and pod members from 74 to 83 during the interim. This is further supported by a close look at the financials, as the last acquisition was in 2015. The goodwill has not been impaired during the last 5 years and should be observed with caution, but with a net income matching the whole goodwill amount, this should not drive the bottom line in the red.
Fundamentals of the company are a joy to look at. Revenue CAGR is currently at 21.4%, which is transformed to a whopping 51.1% on net profit level. EPS has grown every year in the past 6 years and ROCE is at 30.7%. The issue is that you pay for this outstanding performance. P/E for 2020 was at 55.4, which if they managed to meet the growth pencilled on Stockopedia will drop to 43 for this period and 38.3 in 2023
The interim report from today presents a growth in revenues of 37.6% compared to last year’s (H1 2021 for them as financial year ends in January) equivalent period, at £33.7m. PBT is 118% up from the H1 2021 at £4.3m and EPS of 10.8p is 109% ahead. Keystone saw strong cash generation and remained debt free. The firm is enjoying high activity levels across all practices and the outlook is for it to remain “buoyant”. With the restrictions relaxing and returning to office the management foresees performance will be “materially ahead of current market expectations” for the rest of the year.

Short analysis:

Cash increased due to strong CFO even in the presence of repayments of lease liabilities
CA/CL = 1.67
Cash ratio = 0.46
Interest coverage = 90.06
P/S TTM = 4.33, which is on the expensive side of the industry
BV ps (2020) = 53, growing at 94.8% CAGR
Operating profit
Gross profit Margin 26.5%, vs 25.8% H1 2021...

...from WealthOracleAM
Keystone Law share price data is direct from the London Stock Exchange

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