_{The Personal Injury firm has a nasty fall}

Lyons Davidson has posted a £6.7 million loss for the last financial year. 

It follows a torrid few years financially for the firm, with a cumulative loss of nearly £15 million over the last five years, by RollOnFriday's calculations. In the latest financial statement, turnover fell from £27.8 million to £23.3 million. While cash at hand dropped from around £2.3m to £400k. 

With most figures going south, one outlier was directors’ remuneration which was recorded as going up from around £630k to £656k; with the remuneration for the highest paid director increasing from around £182k to £195k. 

However, the firm's managing director Mark Savill denied there had been actual increase for directors' pay. He told RollOnFriday: "The changes in the amounts in our statutory accounts are only as a result of moving payments from different group companies in to one business. There has been no increase during that period other than a small inflationary one in 2019, and the directors also took a 20% pay cut during 2020 as part of the business response to Covid." 

Savill stated: "The Directors have had no other changes to our pay and have invested in our people by ensuring that the reviews that have taken place have been focused on our staff instead."

The firm appears to have been perenially unlucky. "Covid was a setback for us and saw a dramatic reduction in new instructions," said the managing partner, which "led to a 23% reduction in revenue that otherwise would have been received in the 2022 financial year".

Lyons Davidson has also been affected by Personal Injury reforms over the last few years, as the Civil Liability Act and whiplash reforms have restricted legal fees that can be recovered. Connected to woes in the PI market, Lyons Davidson showed "exceptional costs" of £3.1m in its statutory accounts, which included final monies due following the collapse of its joint venture with National Accident Helpline in 2020. 

Savill commented that, in order for the firm to succeed, it would have to transform "from what was predominantly a personal injury firm to being a much more diverse business." Possibly holding a fig leaf over the recent results, he noted that the firm's Household Legal Expenses Division is "growing well." 

The firm also blamed court waiting times for its shonky results. Savill said the delays had increased "considerably, in some cases over 50% longer than pre Covid, which has slowed final resolution of claims, particularly in our Injury and Recoveries Divisions."  

Staffing levels at the firm dipped slightly, in the latest results, from 550 to 536 staff; although that's still a fairly sizeable workforce for a national firm, and not small fry.

Despite the difficult financial year, Savill had a positive outlook: “The business remains strong, with net current assets of £32m and long term growing contracts with our insurer partners." He was also optimistic for the future: "I’m pleased to say that we are back in profit for the final quarter of this year, with our forecasts for FY24 showing a profit and further growth into FY25".