Gateley‘s CEO departure has landed alongside a 44 per cent dividend cut, a redundancy consultation for 40 staff, and a debt pile that quadrupled in a year, casting a shadow over record revenue at the AIM-listed professional services firm.
Rod Waldie will leave the business on 1 August citing personal, health-related reasons, the group told shareholders on Tuesday. Martin Pike, a non-executive director since April last year and a former executive at risk advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, will step in as interim chief executive, according to Non Billable.
Gateley chair Edward Knapp said the board is looking forward to working with Pike to ‘deliver margin enhancement, improved balance sheet and working capital management, profitable growth and attractive returns for our shareholders’.
Record Revenue, but Costs Bite
Revenue for the year ended 30 April 2026 rose 8.2 per cent to a record £194.3m, the firm’s eleventh consecutive year of growth since its 2015 IPO, according to the full-year results announcement on Investegate. Organic growth ran at 6.2 per cent, with the acquisition of Groom Wilkes & Wright also contributing.
Statutory profit before tax grew by more than 20 per cent to £7.7m. Adjusted profit before tax, however, fell 7.1 per cent to £21.6m from £23.3m, dragged lower by reduced net interest income, according to Investing.com. Adjusted earnings per share dropped 10.1 per cent to 11.48p.
Adjusted operating profit edged up only 2.7 per cent to £21.5m, with the margin slipping to 11.1 per cent from 11.7 per cent, as the group invested in administrative support teams and systems.
Net debt surged by £18.7m over the year to £25.3m for the year ended 30 April 2026, up from £6.6m the prior year. Overall expenses jumped £6.3m to £40.6m.
The board cut the total dividend by 44 per cent to 5.3p per share, down from 9.5p, framing the rebasing as a step towards better balance sheet management.
Gateley CEO Departure Adds to Pressure on Shares
Gateley shares trade at around 60p, less than half the 124p level recorded a year ago and well below a 52-week high of 139p, according to Yahoo Finance. The market capitalisation stands at approximately £79.9m. Analyst consensus sits at a price target of 146.25p, against the current price of approximately 58p.
Waldie joined Gateley through the firm’s acquisition of the Manchester office of Halliwells LLP in 2010, going on to lead its national property services team before becoming chief executive, according to his profile on the Gateley website.
In his final chief executive report, Waldie said: ‘Trading in the early weeks of FY27 is in line with our expectations, reflecting good activity levels as we entered the new year, resilience across all four of our platforms, and the continuing progress of our historic growth investments,’ according to the Law Gazette.
The group, which has more than 1,500 people across 28 offices, according to its investor relations page, has already cut its fee-earner headcount by 4 per cent to 983 over the year. It has now launched a formal redundancy consultation over a further 40 support staff roles.
A Gateley spokesperson said the firm had ‘entered a formal consultation process regarding proposed changes’ but that ‘no final decisions have been made.’ ‘These proposals follow a detailed review of our cost base, operating structure and ways of working,’ the spokesperson added.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: ‘The mixed economic outlook in the UK and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East are both near-term challenges for professional services specialist Gateley.’
A Shrinking Listed Legal Sector
Gateley, incorporated in November 2014 and floated in 2015, was the first UK law firm to list on the London Stock Exchange. Five others followed between 2015 and 2020: DWF, Ince Group, Keystone, RBG Holdings, and Knights.
The sector has since contracted sharply. Ince Group collapsed into administration in April 2023 after a cyberattack and mounting debt, having fallen from around 80p per share in early 2021 to around 5p by July 2022. RBG Holdings entered liquidation after a boardroom dispute led to the suspension of its shares in January 2025; the firm had floated in 2018 at a market value of £43m. DWF was taken private by Inflexion in October 2023 through a £342m deal.
Only Gateley, Keystone, and Knights now remain listed in London. The outcome of the redundancy consultation and any update on a permanent chief executive appointment will be the next concrete signals for investors watching the firm’s margin recovery plans.
