- Board members Michele Cicchetti and Seema Bains are among a number of DWf partners to sell shares
- A new strategy is bringing cautious optimism of a recovery
Roughly 25 per cent of the partners and employees with shares vested at listed legal services firm DWF (DWF) have sold company shares in the latest trading tranche of the lock-in period. That includes board members Michele Cicchetti and Seema Bains who sold shares worth £189,000 and £268,000 each. The share sales were completed by Equiniti Financial Services at 102p per share and equate to just over 4 per cent of the total equity.
DWF is one of a number of former Limited Liability Partnerships to have come to the stock market and transitioned into a Public Limited Company model in the last few years. Under the terms of the IPO which took place in 2019, the 200 plus lawyers who were given shares are able to sell a portion of their shares once a year until 2024 when the lock-in period comes to an end. A spokesperson for the company said the fact that just a quarter of those eligible chose to vest their shares in this tranche shows ongoing confidence in the company. The proportion of sellers is up from roughly 22 per cent in the first trading tranche last year.
DWF has not had the easiest first few years as a listed company, but signs of recovery began to emerge in recent financial results. Recently appointed chief executive Sir Nigel Knowles has overseen a model which puts more emphasis on a variety of legal services, not just traditional advice. Analysts at Peel Hunt think this new model has put the firm on the road to better profitability.
