Completion confirmed on 2 November

Knights Group Holdings announced at 07:00 on Monday 2 November 2026 that its Acquisition of Moore Barlow LLP had completed, in line with the timetable set out when the deal was first announced on 21 August. (LSE:KGH) Immediately beforehand, Moore Barlow sold its personal injury, clinical negligence and Court of Protection Business as planned, so Knights has taken on only the commercial and private client service lines.

The acquired business trades as Knights straight away, with technology integrated from day one according to the company. (LSE:KGH) The Woking team has moved into Guildford, leaving the combined group operating from 33 locations, including Guildford, Lymington, Richmond and Southampton. Knights also said the deal adds a schools sector team, an area that is new for the group.

Background to the Knights model

Knights is a legal and professional services business that moved from a traditional Partnership to a corporate structure in 2012 and concentrates on UK markets outside London. (LSE:KGH) For the year to 30 April 2026 it reported underlying Revenue up 28% to £207.7m, organic growth of 7%, and Underlying Profit before tax of £33.2m. Reported profit before tax was much lower, at £10.2m, mainly because of acquisition-related costs that the group treats as non-underlying.

The Margin gap at the heart of the deal

The more interesting question raised by completion is how Knights intends to convert a business with thin corporate-style margins into one that matches its own. (LSE:KGH) The August announcement said draft accounts for Moore Barlow's year to 30 April 2026 showed revenue of £45m, with the acquired portion representing about £30m. Adjusted to reflect partners as employees rather than profit-sharing members, that acquired business generated an EBITDA margin of roughly 4% in its latest year.

Knights expects that, once synergy savings are fully achieved and allowing for normal staff churn, the business will contribute a profit before tax margin of around 18%. That is management's expectation, not a result. For comparison, our calculation from the FY26 figures puts Knights' own underlying PBT margin at about 16%, so the target implies the acquired lines would end up slightly more profitable than the existing group.

Where the improvement is meant to come from

The company's disclosures point to several levers. Office consolidation, combining Woking and Guildford and leaving a small City office, should reduce property costs. Knights also argues that its centralised business services and unified technology platform can absorb support functions, and that cross-referrals into its wider range of services should support revenue.

Knights agreed total cash consideration of £27m, on a cash-free, debt-free basis and subject to working-capital adjustments. Of that, £18m was due on completion, with the balance payable in three equal annual instalments subject to conditions. The deal is expected to be Earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.

Risks and dependencies

The margin plan depends heavily on keeping fee earners and their clients. Law firm acquisitions can lose people when partners become employees, and the 18% expectation already assumes normal churn rather than an unusual departure rate. Integration costs and contingent payments tied to continued employment are typically reported as non-underlying, which is one reason reported and underlying profits diverge so widely at Knights. The sale of the claimant-side practices also means the acquired revenue base is smaller than Moore Barlow's headline figures suggest.

What comes next

Knights has said it expects its bank covenant net Debt to EBITDA ratio to be about 1.5 times by the end of the current financial year to 30 April 2027. The first public evidence of how Moore Barlow is bedding in is likely to come with the group's half-year results, for which we have not verified a date. The 3 November session closed at 163.0p, according to LSE delayed data.