The recent surge in class action law suits has not only proved beneficial for law firms and their victorious clients but also for the company which has provided the funding for many of these matters, IMF (Australia) Ltd.
 
IMF chief executive Rob Ferguson told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting that net profit in fiscal 2009 was expected to come in at $20m.

IMF has provided funding for class action suits involving several recently collapsed Australian companies such as Opes Prime, Firepower and ABC Learning.

Various litigation lawyers ALB spoke to expect to see the litigation surge continue.

Mallesons Stephen Jaques partner Roger Forbes has noticed an increase in instructions in regulatory investigations, class action work, breaches of director duties, assets acquisition and insolvency.

McCullough Roberts partner Guy Humble is in agreement.

"We're now coming out of a period when parties were willing to let bygones be bygones, as everybody was too busy making money. Now that the market's tightening, they are interested in exploring their legal rights to collect what was once forgivable debt."

Last financial year, IMF lifted net profit 188% to $17.16m.