Has DWF Ruined Law Firm Listings for Everyone?
After the firm's travails, will any other want to risk so much damage to its finances and reputation? And what investors would want to buy into a law firm?
July 08, 2020 at 04:00 AM
6 minute read
One of the dangers in blazing a trail is that you might be the one to catch fire. The interest and discussion generated by DWF's plans to list on the London Stock Exchange has now been matched by that around its subsequent performance.
No wonder: the share price has dropped from 122p at the time of its listing to 56p at the time of writing (which in itself is something of a recovery from an all-time low of 49p last week). The valuation of the firm has slumped from an initial £366m to little more than half of that today. The CEO who drove the firm's growth from a regional player of £34m fees into an international business with revenues 10 times that, has been made to stand down. And the firm recently announced that it would close or substantially reduce four of its international offices, while making 60 staff redundant.
The implications will extend far beyond the reaches of DWF. We know that other firms were considering similar flotations, and will take this opportunity to learn at someone else's expense. There seems to be a lot to learn.
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