Savills announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2011.
Key Financial Information
- Group revenue up 10% to £335.8m (2010: £304.4m)
- Group profit before tax up 39% to £20.0m (2010: £14.4m)
- Underlying Group profit before tax up 20% to £20.6m (2010: £17.2m)
- Basic earnings per share up 52% to 12.0p (2010: 7.9p)
- Underlying basic earnings per share up 23% to 11.8p (2010: 9.6p)
- Interim dividend up 5% to 3.15p per share (2010: 3.0p)
- Net cash of £25.9m (2010: £20.1m)
Operational Highlights
Strong growth in transaction advisory business driven by demand for Prime Central London Residential property and continued strength of Asia Pacific markets, particularly Greater China Continued investment focused on the recruitment of new teams and offices across the Savills network Further growth of property and facilities management activities with the total area under management up 17% driven largely by Asia Pacific Fund Management profits up 20% with fee income up 25% Commenting on the results, Jeremy Helsby, Group Chief Executive of Savills plc, said:
“Savills has delivered a good first half performance as a result of the continued strength of our businesses in key transactional markets in the UK and Asia Pacific. At the same time we have increased revenue and profits in Fund Management, substantially reduced losses in the US business and improved our like-for-like performance in Continental Europe.
Our commitment to hiring the best people and providing the very highest levels of service to our clients has helped us to extend our market share in the UK and Asia. We have continued to invest across the business, through selective acquisitions, further recruitment and expansion in core regions. We will continue to take advantage of selective growth opportunities to improve our service offering to clients.
Looking to the second half, we currently see no material change in the outlook for our business, although the potential effects of the current economic and social volatility are likely to have some impact on both Commercial and Residential transaction markets across our regions. In Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and Singapore, we continue to expect some reduction in volumes although prime values currently appear resilient. In the UK and continental Europe, we expect transaction markets to remain unsettled although the fundamentals of the Prime London Residential market remain positive. A healthy pipeline of business from our US operations should lead to continued growth from this region in the second half. Despite the current volatility, Savills remains well positioned with long term growth prospects across our core regions.”
Source: savills.co.uk