A Cheltenham-based professional services company has increased its revenue by more than 60 per cent in the past 12 months to achieve a turnover of £33.5million.

The 64 per cent hike is the biggest annual increase ever recorded by Knights 1759 and is a result of a successful year of trading following an acquisition and the recruitment of more than 100 professionals and specialist teams.

Last year, the business, which has a regional office in Montpellier Drive, Cheltenham, achieved a turnover of £20.5million having grown significantly from £8million in 2011.

Now a team of 350 high-calibre professionals across six regional offices, the business is expecting to enter the UK top 100 law firms for the first time this year.

Knights was one of the first in the legal sector to secure private investment and embrace the Alternative Business Structure (ABS) model, moving away from the traditional equity partnership model.

CEO David Beech attributes the success to attracting and retaining talent by the combination of private-equity investment and a strong vision to create a forward-thinking and dynamic business.

"The last 12 months has been a major step forward in our vision to become the number one regional professional services business in the UK," said Mr Beech (pictured).

"By moving away from the traditional legal partnership-model to operate as a commercial business, has allowed us to grow quickly.

"We have expanded our specialist services to provide integrated solutions to clients with legal services being part of a wider offering, as well as strengthening our existing real estate, corporate, litigation, employment and private client teams.

"We've continued with our long-term plan to invest in our people and we have structured the business to ensure that we can maintain a consistent and ongoing recruitment programme across our six regional offices.

"Our success is testament to the hard work of everyone at Knights and we have plans for further growth to become the number one regional professional services business in the UK."

Knights 1759 was founded in 1759 in Staffordshire and it has six regional offices in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Chester, Cheltenham, Derby, Oxford and Wilmslow.

It provides specialist legal and professional support to businesses in all areas of corporate, commercial and real estate.

As well as support with legal issues, Knights' ABS status enables it to provide 'non-law' services such as town planning, corporate finance, management consultancy and specialist tax advice.

Knights also provides specialist private client work in the areas of family finance, agricultural and rural affairs, landed estates, property sales and purchases and complex wills, probate, tax and trusts.