Keystone Law jumps as profits set to surpass expectations

Keystone Law jumped on Monday after revealing that it expects to report profits "comfortably ahead" of market expectations for 2018 after strong trading the the second half of the year.

The challenger law firm said a continuation of good first half trading had delivered "significant growth" as the company continued to focus on delivering its strategy by driving strong organic growth and investment in the infrastructure which underpins this strategy.

James Knight, chief executive of Keystone, said: "I am delighted with the progress the group has made in our first full year on AIM. Our distinctive platform model has successfully attracted a significant number of new, high-quality lawyers which has helped us scale the business."

Keystone, which delivers conventional legal services across more than 20 service areas and over 50 industry sectors, joined the AIM market of the in November 2017, raising £15m through its initial public offering.

The Chancery Lane-headquartered firm said in a statement that it is now well positioned to establish itself as one of the leading UK mid-market law firms as its growth strategy enables it to take advantage of the significant addressable market.

"This impressive growth coupled with the excellent performance and hard work of our lawyers means that we are confident that we will comfortably beat market expectations. We continue to make good strategic progress and we look forward to further updating the market in May," said Knight.

Keystone Law's shares were up 13.82% at 387.00p at 1307 GMT.