Savills benefits from rental sector growth as profits hit £547m
REAL estate firm Savills has seen an upturn in revenue and pretax profit across their global operations.
In the UK, revenue was up 6% to £236m, as the market bounces back from a pre-election lull.
The “continued strength” in UK regional investment gave Savills transaction advisory business a 55% boost in revenue.
The firm has also been on the acquisition trail this year, buying up rural business Smiths Gore for £34m and is nearing completion of its SEB Asset Management acquisition.
However Savills saw a downturn in their residential arm, as UK residential transaction fee income dipped by 13% to £15.8m, which was blamed on the slowdown in the run up to the General Election.
Across the group globally, turnover reached £547m for the first half of the 2015, up 27% on last year. Underlying pretax profit jumped to £38.4m up from £30.1m
Jeremy Helsby, group chief executive of Savills plc, said: “Savills has delivered a strong first half performance as a result of the contribution from Savills Studley in the US and the strength of our existing businesses in key transactional markets of the UK and Asia.
“Our performance in these markets mitigated the effect of the pre-election slowdown in the UK Residential market, where, lately, we have seen activity levels starting to improve.
“Our core markets continue to be highly demand-driven as a result of the continued substantial capital allocation to real estate around the world.
“Furthermore, in many markets we are now seeing rental growth and increased occupier confidence. Savills is well placed to act on the opportunities arising from occupier and investor demand globally.”
