British legal services provider Ince Group PLC (Ince) has had to ask investors to be patient.

The group of companies, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, is currently unable to publish an audited annual balance sheet for 2022 or any figures for the current financial year, the Ince board of directors informed the shareholders shortly before the turn of the year.

The annual financial statements and the interim results are to be published four weeks late on January 31st.

Marcus Young

Editor in Business.

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Trading in Ince shares will remain suspended at least until this point in time.

On the last day of trading on January 3, the security was listed at just over 4 pence, meaning that the shares have lost more than 85 percent of their value within a year.

Ince, which is one of the major British commercial law firms with annual sales of more than £100 million (fiscal year 2021), cites the increased time requirements of its new auditor BDO as the reason for the delay.

Due to the complexity of the "historical and outdated accounting issues," more time is needed to complete the outstanding audit work, the stock exchange statement said.

As in previous letters, Ince again refers to ongoing delays in China - where the law firm has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong - and the corona pandemic.

"The Board of Directors is not aware of any material issues arising from the audit," emphasizes the Executive Board.

Corporate support measures

As the FAZ reported, the group of companies, which was in financial difficulties, had to be supported in the summer of 2022 with a capital increase and a bank loan of around £8.6 million.

At the same time, the longstanding CEO had to resign.

Even then, Ince had to put off its investors with a timely publication of the annual figures and justified this with a cyber attack.

Another £4.7 million capital raise followed in November.

At least it is now clear: The ten million pound takeover of the financial broker Arden last year was a negative business.

Almost seven months later, the subsidiary had to be sold with considerable losses.

In any case, listed law firms in Great Britain are currently in a difficult position. None of the units listed in the AIM was able to record growth in 2022, and in the previous year the share prices of legal service providers rose by up to 40 percent and more.

This is the first time in the past seven years that the British online service “Legal Futures” reports in its annual analysis.

Even in the Corona year 2020, which hit the global law firm industry, there were rising prices.

Even the industry leader DWF is affected by this development.

A year ago, the share was at times over 130 pounds, currently the DWF security is listed at 83.6 pounds.

With its IPO in London, the commercial law firm brought in almost £95 million in March 2019, at times the valuation was £366 million.