The UK’s biggest conveyancer posted a trading profit last year as uncertainty in the housing market started to ease. Simplify Moving Limited reported this month that in the year to March 2025 it made an operating profit of £2.5m, after accounting for exceptional items. It reported an equivalent loss of £9.6m in 2024.

Turnover was up by 17% to £140m, of which £118m was related to legal services.

The company had made cutbacks in previous years to deal with fluctuating market conditions, cutting staff numbers from 1,413 in 2024 to 1,256 last year. The business spent £2.2m in the past two years on cost-cutting measures including redundancy costs.

Introducing the annual results, director Robert Matson said the market had seen a return to more ‘benign trading conditions’ than had been experienced during the previous two or three years.

He said: ‘Corrective actions taken by management during previous financial years (for example, reducing the operational headcount of the business and rightsizing the group’s physical office footprint) allowed the group to take advantage of the more favourable economic backdrop, more than doubling the group’s EBITDA.

‘Management now believes that the commercial foundations have been built which will allow the business to continue to make significant financial and operational improvements on a reliable and robust basis.’

The group is organised into property and legal services. The legal section includes revenue from a panel of third-party firms and the group’s in-house conveyancers DC Law, JS Law, Premier Property Lawyers, Advantage Property Lawyers and Cook Taylor Woodhouse.

Simplify said it intends to expand further through organic growth, acquisitions of other firms and the development of technology.

The business is owned by private equity partnership Palamon Capital Partners and has an ongoing loan facility of £86m with backer Permira Credit Solutions. Permira signed an agreement in December to provide an option to defer £1.75m of interest and to waive any historical breaches of financial covenants under the existing facility. The shareholders have also provided a legally binding commitment to provide a further £1.75m loan to the group.

The accounts revealed that the amount received by the highest-paid director increased from £215,000 to £340,000.

A spokesperson for Simplify said: ‘Since the accounts date of March 2025 the company has continued to trade well with revenue and operating profit growing strongly. These accounts mark the third consecutive year of significant profit growth alongside ongoing investment in technology, consistently high service levels and increased transaction volumes.’