Fees Ban not hurting Belvoir yet as franchise giant records strong growth

Belvoir Group has this morning announced its interim results for the first six months of this year - and they show strong growth, including in the lettings division, despite one month of the period being impacted by the fees ban.

Lettings revenue for the six months was up 4.0 per cent on the same period of 2018, mostly thanks to the franchise giant snapping up other agencies under its Assisted Acquisitions programme.  

Belvoir now manages a nationwide portfolio of 64,650 rented properties (up from 61,100 a year ago) “providing a reliable and recurring income for both our franchisees and the group” says this morning’s statement. 

Belvoir reveals in the statement that it took proactive measures to mitigate the ban, which came into effect for the final month of the six months under review: these measures included increasing onsite support visits, delivering growth workshops, providing increased training and introducing new revenue streams. 

The sales side of the group also delivered growth - up 7.0 per cent despite, it says, average house price growth of only 0.9 per cent and a 2.2 per cent drop in transactions. 

“Greater emphasis on estate agency has seen our lettings-biased networks, Belvoir and Northwood, boost their revenue from estate agency by 17 per cent having embraced sales as an additional revenue stream. We continue to see sales as a real growth opportunity for our network” explains the statement, issued at 7am to shareholders and the City.

Financial services - described as “a real differentiator for Belvoir” - contributed 19 per cent of gross profit following the 2017 acquisition of Brook Financial Services and the November 2018 acquisition of MAB Glos. 

So overall there was a dramatic 48 per cent increase in group revenue to £9,047,000, a five per cent rise in management service fees, an 18 per cent increase in gross profits and a 23 per cent rise in pre-tax profits. 

Gross profits were split 66 per cent lettings: 15 per cent sales: and 19 per cent financial services.

Operationally during the first half of this year, Belvoir opened in four new territories and merged four existing branches into adjacent offices, so the network stays at 300. Some 16 franchisee assisted acquisitions were completed.

Dorian Gonsalves, chief executive officer of Belvoir Group, tells shareholders: "Trading across lettings, sales and financial services continues to outperform their respective markets and deliver strong results for the Group. The further take-up of property sales, financial services and franchisee-led acquisitions demonstrates the entrepreneurial spirit of our franchisees in the face of even more challenging market conditions. I am pleased to further report that Belvoir has achieved a promising start to the second half, and as such the company is on track to meet management expectations for the full year."