Law firm Slater and Gordon Limited (ASX: SGH) has a long and successful history of serving Australia's personal law needs, and is probably one of the few law firms the average Australian could name off the top of their head.
Having grown its business across Australia through organic growth and aggressive mergers and acquisitions, Slater and Gordon has been busy replicating this success in the UK. Business expansion overseas is always accompanied by greater risks than expansion within home borders. However, since moving into the UK market in 2012, Slater and Gordon has become one of the biggest players in what is a fractured market.
A 5% personal litigation law market share may seem trivial, but in a market as fractured as the one in the UK, Slater and Gordon is proud to say that it is number one in market share in many areas of consumer law practices. With an attention to brand name and further expansion plans, Slater and Gordon is the hot pick to dominate the fractured UK personal litigation law market in the future.
With Slater and Gordon's exciting future in the UK, it's easy to forget that its practices in Australia are still strong. Slater and Gordon holds 25% of the market in Australia, the operations of which comprised 56% of its revenue for financial year 2014.
In other words, 44% of Slater and Gordon's total revenue in financial year 2014 came from its 5% slice of UK market share. This is extraordinary considering that its UK operations are still in their infancy and speaks volumes to the incredible growth potential of this stock.
It's clear that Slater and Gordon has a bright future ahead of it, and the share price this year has reflected this. In the last year, Slater and Gordon's share price has risen nearly 60%, a large portion of that gain coming in the weeks following the end-of-financial-year announcement that its net profit after tax had increased 40% on the previous year. On top of that, Slater and Gordon delivers a dividend yield of about 1.5%.
There is a special breed of highly sought-after stocks that deliver a solid, fully franked dividend, and also promise tremendous capital growth potential. Slater and Gordon is a prime example of this type of stock.
