The Ince Group - once London’s largest listed law firm - is set to enter administration after a protracted auditing process meant it has still not published its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2022.
The 150-year-old company, formerly known as Gordon Dadds Group, said a lengthy auditing process, after BDO LLP determined there were “matters outstanding” with its accounts in Hong Kong, put “increasing pressure” on its cash flows.
As a result, Ince said it had held discussions with its main lender and with HMRC “to establish their levels of support”.
Now it has said a major creditor had revealed it would no longer support the business, which left the Ince board with “no choice but to place the company into administration”.
The Aldgate-headquartered firm, which employed over 700 staff and had revenues of over £100 million in the year to March 2021, was at one point the largest listed law firm in the UK.
Ince was forced to raise emergency funds after it became the victim of a major cyber attack in March last year, which it said had cost as much as £5 million to resolve. Attackers stole personal data and threatened to publish the information online if Ince did not agree to pay a ransom.
The company suspended its shares at the end of December last year after delays to the publication of its annual report after its auditor BDO complained what it called “the complexity of historic and legacy accounting issues.”
Ince repeatedly said its audited results could be expected soon, but missed four seperate deadlines it had set for their publication. It had since sold off a string of subsidiaries in a bid to shore up its finances, including selling a Bristol-based personal injury law practice for £1.3 million.
As well as legal and advisory services under the Ince name, the group also owns eLegal Technology Solutions, Hanover Financial Management and Wandsworth based Alen-Buckley Solicitors.
