"They should make an action figure of YOU, sir."
Knights, the listed law firm with the rollercoaster share price, had an all-hands conference in Birmingham last Friday where the emphasis was firmly on FUN.
A commendable decision, as focussing on tanking investments would have been a massive downer. And anyway, these firm-wide knees-ups are supposed to be optimistic, giving bosses the chance to strut their stuff on stage and wow the troops with their best Steve Jobs impression. As such, they serve as a great catalyst for buttkissing, exemplified by the perfect specimen which was birthed onto LinkedIn this week already tugging its forelock, courtesy of a lackey in the Knights marketing team:
"I've been to a few conferences in my time - and listened to a number of business leaders too. But - NEVER have I been to a conference that was on the same brilliant level as our conference on Friday", frothed the grateful witness.
Such was his excitement at being in the same vast conference centre as his loaded chief exec, he could barely get his words out: "And I've yet meet [sic] someone with a vision or as brilliant a business leader as David Beech. Knights - the team, we have a vision, we have a superb culture and I am beyond pleased to be a part of it! Well done for a brilliant day! Looking forward to us all achieving the growth that was mentioned. Looking forward to playing my part and helping support my colleagues in anyway I can!"
A source said- sorry, one second.
A source said, "Beech sold his shares to investors at 3.80. Those shares are now 1.23. I’m sure the investors who bought them don’t consider him a brilliant business leader. The ROF golden turd award suggests it’s a shit culture. But in the Knights cult you gotta Toady baby."
What absolute tosh. Knights' share price is rebounding as we speak, I'll have that cynic know:
It's called a convention bounce, baby, and with acquisitions like Coffin Mew lined up, there's plenty more where that came from. As ever, ROF's unregulated advice for which we have no liability is: strong buy.
Comments
Looking forward to playing my part and helping support my colleagues in anyway I can
Thumbs up if you know the type.
Modern day "bread and circuses" -appeasement through free food and plonk!
The rendition of ‘Angels’ reminded me of a recent programme on TV where a cult’s praising the ‘prophet’ hid the true agenda - wonder how many families here have been broken or left in the lay-by listening and following this ethos! Integrity, trust and loyalty are values that I have seen employees lose in this firm.
Now now, ROF, it was an excellent event. Bon Jovi’s hit of “it’s my life” is on repeat.
Has anyone watched the series ‘The Following’ starring Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy?
Great series - charismatic leader, but he and his followers hid some secrets. Those who did not follow their vision were deemed not worthy!
Conference ‘singing’ appears to have been deleted from Knight’s Twitter. That’s a shame ROF, as everyone enjoys a good sing-a-long
Wasn’t there at the conference, so somewhat disappointed to see the Twitter feed of ‘Angels’ has ‘vanished’ before I had a chance to see it!
Why? Surely not worried that Robbie won’t approve! Or, perhaps, a couple of higher ranked employees are not as angelic as one might be professing and their halos need a spit and polish? Who knows! It would have added more entertainment to this feed though!
What's the gossip on the Coffin Mew acquisition?
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/exclusive-coffin-mew-took-ps1million-covid-grant-boss-enjoyed-record-pay
@Interested Party - can’t wait!
I hadn’t seen the Coffin Mew article - what a pleasant surprise! I’m now more certain than ever that they fit with our culture (we did a bit of our own streamlining and salary reduction fyi ;)).
Cannot wait to have them onboard.
Now to practice my singing…. I mean swing… and through it all, she offers me protection….
Reminds me of a navy phrase used to describe events which were all “ cake and ar*e”( ie feed the peasants cake and watch whilst they try and crawl up the Sénior ranks ar*rs………….
Coffin Mew culture will align nicely!!!
The share price has tanked since the conference. It’s now under a quid.
Dave - I’m going to give you toadys a bonus.
Toadys - hooray, your the best leader we’ve ever had or will ever have.
Dave - but you all have to buy shares with your bonus. I will buy mine first, lucky Kate will buy some too and you will all need to buy after us at a much higher price.
Toadys - Hooray, you go first and buy a million quids worth and we will then buy ours for loads more after you’ve spiked the price.
3 weeks later
Toadys - hooray, we’ve lost up to 40% already but you, our inspirational leader, are only down 20%. You are truly a brilliant businessman. We and the investors are lucky to have you.
Dave - [email protected]@@. Buying high street firms doesn’t get the price up, me, lucky Kate and the Toadys buying shares doesn’t get the price up. They are on to us…….
I bought a load of shares on RoF’s “strong buy” recommendation. The shares have tanked by 20% and I’m nursing heavy losses.
I’m going to sue.
Dead cat bounce. The shares are today less than a tube of toothpaste in Poundland.
This is despite Knights Glorious Leader, Lucky Kate and various Toadys all buying loads of shares a few weeks ago.
Maybe next year’s conference could open with Chris Rea’s “Road to Hell”. For investors who were stupid enough to spunk their clients money at around £4.00 a share, it certainly feels that way.
Check your investment portfolios and have a word if your fund managers have walked you into this stinker.
Interesting analysis of Knights share price woes by an investor on LSE.
No Opinion
RE: The only way is up?14 Jun 2022 21:18
It maybe something to do with the major shareholder and directors of the company selling huge shareholdings shortly before dumping out horrible RNSs, and then blaming Covid for poor performance when every other law firm worth their salt was having record profits throughout the same period. Maybe. Re the leadership “buying in” - a token gesture and sop to the market? Maybe. Look how many shares they dumped beforehand. What they’ve bought back is a fraction. I do not see that as an indicator of confidence in the business - but that’s just me.
There’s nothing worse than a sycophantic Toady.
Might struggle with growth judging by the number of CVs doing the rounds.
So many of their acquisitions seem to have ended up as total disasters.
The share price reflects the legal market’s view of its culture and sustainability.
Avoid!
The share price is 94p. The float price was much more than that. What the hell is going on?
They must have spent 50 million buying up firms.
Think I know a pair of ‘sycophantic toadies’, anonymous!
Wow, last time I looked at Knights share price it was 3 times higher than DWF’s share price. It’s now lower than DWF’s deflated 94p.
Could there be a Knowles/Beech alliance on the cards or would that just be two drowning men grabbing a hold of each other?
DWF merging with Knights isn’t going to happen, is it? Harrods won’t merge with the butcher’s shop up the road for the same reasons.
Wonder if your pair of Toadies is the same as mine, Stokie!!!
It’s a share price which reflects greed, stupidity, arrogance and hubris. Blaming the staff and Covid for the fall in profits was disgraceful. The profit warning came as a result of the arrogance of one man and one man alone. He has cost the investors and share holding employees a lot of money. Trying to undo the damage he has done will prove to be impossible.
It floated at £1.45 so it is massively down. How it ever got to £4 I will never know.
Yes it’s now 86p. The investors got suckered in. Everybody in the law knew what it was.
Fur coat no knickers. Just like those behind it.
A market cap of +300m was always ridiculous.
There are clearly problems with this business. If you factor in the money spent on acquisitions, the turnover and profit figures should both be significantly more.
The numbers suggest high levels of client and fee earner churn and they also suggest that the wrong people are leaving and taking clients with them.
Turning the share price around is likely to be difficult. Restoring Knights reputation in the eyes of candidates or potential sellers is also going to be difficult. It’s a fascinating watch from a safe distance, though.
DWF has lost 22% of its share value this year whilst Knights has lost a whopping 78% of its share value.
We are now in recession so if share prices are hit this hard during the post-Covid bounce, where will they be at the end of what is likely to be a very deep recession?
Strong sell or a buying opportunity?
The culture is so good that Knights wins the Golden Turd.
Record numbers of people seem to join but then leave in a very short space of time.
Many from the numerous acquired firms appear to leave as soon as they can.
Those leaving cite Knights weird and dysfunctional environment as their main reason for leaving.
The stories people tell about Knights are shocking to the point you’d ordinarily dismiss them. But when the same stories are told by so many ex-employees you have to listen because they are so similar.
And yet we keep hearing the same PR propaganda.
You end up feeling pity. This has all the hall marks of desperate and frightened people saying what they think they need to say.
That is tremendously sad.
All I can say is I am so glad I got out of that place before they made everyone drink the KoolAid at this event. What a barf fest.
Just don’t spill the beans on the Coffin Mew acquisition…let’s hear about those ‘Toadies’ who have tainted halos! Any gossip on them the team might be interested to hear about? Do they get extra koolaid?