Merseyside ‘Woman of the Year’ and joint owner of Carpenters Group, Donna Scully, shares £800,000 dividends windfall amid legal insurance firm’s 25% rise in revenues to £62.3m. Tony McDonough reports

Merseyside legal and insurance services firm Carpenters Group has continued its recovery from a sharp dip during the pandemic with a big rise in revenues.

Latest accounts filed on Companies House for the 12 months to December 31, 2023, show revenues of £62.3m, up 25% from £49.6m in 2022. Pre-tax profits were marginally down at £1.34m.

Carpenters is jointly owned by directors Donna Scully and John Carpenter. They share £800,000 in dividends. It means over the last three years the pair have pocketed almost £2m in dividends on top of their salaries, worth around £200,000 a year each.

It is a strong turnaround for the business which saw a downturn during COVID and grappled with regulatory changes and the launch of a new personal injury claims portal that caused concern across the UK claims sector.

In the last full year before the pandemic, the 12 months to December 31, 2019, Carpenters generated revenues of £69m and pre-tax profits of more than £13m.

Similar to many businesses across the UK, the firm used the Government furlough scheme to help pay its staff during the pandemic. In total it claimed more than £2m from the scheme – around £1.8m in 2020 and a further £357,000 in 2021.

In July, Dublin-born Donna won the top ‘Woman of the Year’ accolade in front of hundreds of guest at the Merseyside Women of the Year Awards held at the Crowne Plaza on Liverpool waterfront.

Her professional career as a lawyer, experienced public speaker and podcaster has seen her work closely with the Ministry of Justice in relation to motor claims and civil justice reform.

She also runs a homeless breakfast club every Sunday which she personally attends and prepares food, is an ambassador for Fans Supporting Foodbanks, a Football for Change Champion and a mentor for the Girls Network and The Insurance Breakfast Club.

On winning the award, Donna told the audience at the ceremony: “Yesterday was my 27th anniversary of coming to Liverpool. As a scally from Dublin inner city, I really feel like an honorary Scouser now.

“I’m really shocked, humbled and privileged. To be among the best women that Merseyside has to offer, I’m delighted.”

With offices in Liverpool, Birkenhead, Leeds, Haywards Heath, Manchester and Glasgow, Carpenters Group employs more than 1,000 people. It provides legal services to insurance companies and brokers and handles personal injury claims.

These latest accounts show the company employed 1,220 people during the year. On its website the business now says it employs around 1,500 people. They include director and chief executive Donna Richards.

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Writing in the annual report, she said: “The increase in turnover is a reflection of new sources of work and continued diversification. The group has continued to see volumes of new work increase throughout the year.

“The group has started to see improvement in lifecycles of cases and is expecting this trend will continue through 2024 and onwards… The strength of the business and the balance sheet ensure a sustainable future for the business.”