Strong growth for estate agents Belvoir
Estate agents franchise group Belvoir, which has sites across the West Midlands, says trading in the 10 months to the end of October was ahead of management expectations.
There are branches in Cannock, Dudley, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Telford, Wednesbury and Wolverhampton.
Both of the Group's divisions – property and financial services – achieved year-on-year growth.
The property division contributed 77 per cent of the group's gross profit and achieved growth of 29 per cent. Income from lettings was 21 per cent up on 2020 resulting from unprecedented demand for rental properties with rents increasing in all areas of the UK, as well as the acquisition of Nicholas Humphreys, a predominantly student lettings network.
Income from sales was up 65 per cent, mainly a result of the strongest market for property transactions seen since 2007.
The financial services division saw gross profit rise by 39 per cent%.
Belvoir's network of mortgage advisers increased by 21 per cent from 202 at the start of the year to 245.
The board expects that the performance for the full year, in terms of profit before tax, will be ahead of management's expectations for 2021 and substantially ahead of 2020.
Chief executive Dorian Gonsalves said: "In 2021 we have seen our franchisees and mortgage advisers take advantage of an exceptionally strong sales market. The sector undoubtedly benefitted hugely from the Government's decision to extend the stamp duty holiday until September 2021, following which we have seen a predictable slowing in the number of new instructions as the market normalises. We anticipate that given the ongoing pent-up demand from buyers, the market will return to more usual transaction levels in 2022. In the meantime, our current pipelines remain strong and support outperforming our end of year forecasts.
The Board is mindful that 2022 is likely to present further challenges for the wider economy, but we are confident in our business model of supporting entrepreneurial franchisees and mortgage advisers to achieve their business ambitions, and that our growth strategy of organic growth coupled with investment in profitable property franchise and mortgage networks will continue to prove successful and deliver long-term shareholder value."
