The CEO of stockmarket-listed Gateley is leaving after a year in which the market value of the law firm has tumbled. The company announced to the London Stock Exchange today that Rod Waldie will step down as chief executive from 1 August for ‘personal, health-related reasons’.

Martin Pike, who spent nearly 30 years at insurance firm Willis Towers Watson, where he led the risk consulting and software business, will be appointed interim chief executive.

Waldie said: ‘It has been a privilege to be chief executive officer of Gateley for the last six years and I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made in that time. Gateley is a fantastic business with great people committed to delivering the best possible service to our clients.’

Gateley is one of the few remaining legal businesses to be traded on the stock market in its own account. Its share price has more than halved since last September.

The company reported today that in the year to 30 April, profit before tax grew by 20% to £7.7m on revenue up 8% to £194.3m. Net debt stood at £25.3m as of April this year – up from £6.2m a year before – driven by increased working capital and acquisition payments. It declared a final dividend of 2p per share compared with last year’s payout of 6.2p. This represented a dividend of around 45% of adjusted profits but placed the payment ‘on a more sustainable footing’.

The company said it has begun a redundancy consultation with around 40 staff to reduce the size of its support team. The number of fee-earners fell by 4% in the past year to 983.

Gateley acquired boutique IP firm Groom Wilkes & Wright in a deal worth £9m and reported that the business has performed well in the year, trading above expectations.

In what was his final report, Waldie said: ‘Trading in the early weeks of FY27 is in line with our expectations, reflecting good activity levels as we entered the new year, resilience across all four of our platforms, and the continuing progress of our historic growth investments.

‘This gives us confidence as we move through FY27, however, the board is conscious that macro indicators continue to point to uncertain market conditions, at least in the near term, which we will monitor and adjust for as appropriate.’

Shares in Gateley Holdings plc rose by 17% to 63p on the news.