Keystone Law AIM:KEYS
- Founded
- 2002 · London, England
- Incorporated
- United Kingdom
- Chief executive
- James Knight
- Employees
- 98
- Reports in
- GBP
- Companies House
- 09038082
Challenger law firm operating a platform model in which senior self-employed lawyers run their own practices using Keystone's brand, insurance, compliance and technology infrastructure, sharing fees with the firm. Scales by recruiting experienced lawyers without the office costs of traditional firms.
Read straight from the annual reports
689p at close on 2 Oct 2026 · 12 reported years, 2015–2026
| Line | FY201501/15 | FY201601/16 | FY201701/17 | FY201801/18 | FY201901/19 | FY202001/20 | FY202101/21 | FY202201/22 | FY202301/23 | FY202401/24 | FY202501/25 | FY202601/26 | FY2027unreported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | later 20.9 | later 76.4 | |||||||||||
| Gross profit | later 5.3 | later 19.9 | |||||||||||
| Operating profit | later 1.6 | later 1.7 | later 4.7 | ||||||||||
| Adjusted operating profit | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Exceptional items | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Net finance cost | later (0.07) | ||||||||||||
| Profit before tax | later 1.1 | later 1.2 | |||||||||||
| Adjusted profit before tax | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| Tax charge | later 0.33 | ||||||||||||
| Profit for the year | later 0.83 | later 0.87 | |||||||||||
| EBITDA | |||||||||||||
| Adjusted minus statutory PBT | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| Basic EPS | — | — | |||||||||||
| Diluted EPS | — | — | |||||||||||
| Adjusted EPS | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| Dividend per share | — | — | — |
GBP millions, negatives in brackets. Per-share lines in pence, share counts in millions. later is what a following report restated the figure to; vs is a second reading that disagrees. The figure shown is the one the original filing printed, and both readings are kept. Click any figure: opens the report page it was read from, highlighted; shows how it was calculated. The share price above is drawn to the same columns: each close sits over the financial year it fell in.
12 years, at a glance
Dashed: Operating margin, in % on its own scale — read its shape, not its height against the bars.
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Growth in Principal (lawyer) numbers
Principal numbers increased 7.7% to 491 (2025: 455); revenue per Principal up 10.5% to £243k (2025: £220k); total fee earners up 13.5% to 654
page 13Record recruitment of new fee earners
61 new Principals and 63 pod members joined in the year; 294 qualified applicants, 96 offers made, 68 accepted
page 11Mix shift toward Principal/pod-generated revenue
Gross margin fell to 25.5% (2025: 26.1%) as growth was driven predominantly by Principals and their pods, on whom the Group earns lower gross margins than centrally-employed/Isle of Man-based lawyers
page 13Depreciation on Chancery Lane office fit-out
Depreciation increased as the 2024 Chancery Lane fit-out only started being depreciated from November 2025, contributing to the decline in adjusted PBIT margin to 11.2% (2025: 11.9%)
page 13£184k credit: Unrealised gain on revaluation of investment held at fair value (Keypoint Law Pty Ltd)
page 57The momentum which we had experienced through 2026 has continued into the early part of 2027 which provides us with confidence for the year ahead (Chairman)
page 10Progressive dividend policy; proposed final ordinary dividend of 17.2p per share (2025: 14.0p), bringing total ordinary dividend for the year to 24.7p (2025: 20.2p); interim dividend of 7.5p already paid; total dividends paid since IPO approx. £54m (over 160p per share), equivalent to 91% of adjusted earnings generated over the same period; a special dividend (£4.7m / 15.0p) was also paid in the year
page 9Unqualified 'true and fair' audit opinion issued by RSM UK Audit LLP (senior statutory auditor William Farren FCA), signed 28 April 2026. Sole key audit matter (Group): revenue recognition and year-end accrued income; Parent Company had no KAMs. Group materiality £733,000 (2025: £590,000), 5% of PBT. Auditor identified no material uncertainties over going concern; cash flow forecasts reviewed to 30 April 2027; Group is cash positive, debt-free and highly cash generative
page 41- Economic downturn — a significant downturn in the UK economy impacting demand for legal servicesp.23
- Litigation, professional liability and uninsured risks — susceptibility to claims for negligence, breach of contract and other client claims, potentially exceeding the £60m professional indemnity insurance capp.23
- Regulatory risk and compliance risks — failure to comply with SRA and other regulations could lead to reputational damage or criminal prosecutionp.24
- Personnel — heavy reliance on lawyers to attract new clients and maintain relationships with existing clients; loss of key lawyers could impair strategy and financial performancep.24
Read from C000743-AR-2026-ch.
11 annual reports read, FY2016 to FY2026
Open a year to see what its report said. Every line in it carries the page it was read from.
Sources: Companies House (11)
FY2027Next report expected 4 May 2027