Property group moves in on £15m "hybrid" acquisition

PROPERTY franchise group MartinCo is looking to expand its online offering with the acquisition of West Yorkshire’s EweMove in a deal worth £15m.

£5m will be paid in cash, £3m in shares and the remaining £7m will be paid dependent on performance of the Cleckheaton online “hybrid” sales and lettings agency.

EweMove will act as a subsidiary to the business and its management team will move over to the senior team at Dorset-based MartinCo.

Launched in 2014, the business now has 90 franchisees. It recruits local property specialists with a “fully scalable” centralised online platform with the features of a traditional estate agency.

For the year to 30 June 2016, EweMove generated revenues and profit before tax of £1.65m and £120,000 respectively.

Ian Wilson, chief executive of MartinCo, said: “Our strategy as a Group remains focused on traditional high street based lettings and estate agency model where we continue to see growth.

“This acquisition provides the group with a strategically important foothold in the rapidly developing market for online estate agency and letting services.

“We see the acquisition as complementary to the wider Group strategy with the hybrid model, a people business which combines an online platform with truly local presence and customer service focus, differentiating it from other online offerings.”

David Laycock and Glenn Ackroyd, founders and managing directors of EweMove, said: “MartinCo is a forward looking company and we are hugely excited about the opportunities that this transaction brings.

“We look forward to working with the MartinCo team and are confident that the enlarged Group will be able to progress strongly with its broadened range of offerings within the marketplace.”