Savills reports pre-tax profit of £20m
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Savills, the former parent company of Savills Private Finance, has reported a pre-tax profit of £20m in the first six months of the year, up 39% on its £14.4m pre-tax profit in the first half of 2010.
Revenue was up 10% to £335.8m, and underlying profit before tax was £20.6m, up 20% on the first half of 2010.
On May 3 2011, the group sold 80.01% of its stake in Savills Private Finance, now rebranded to SPF Private Clients, to the management of the business.
The group retains a shareholding in SPF of 19.99%.
Its results show a gain of £0.4m has been recognised in profit on disposal of subsidiaries including the remeasurement to fair value of the group’s remaining share amounting to £0.3m.
Savills says for the period up to completion of the sale, SPF contributed approximately £2.9m of revenue and £0.3m of underlying profit to the group.
On the property side of the business, Savills UK residential transaction fee income increased by 22% to £47.9m, reflecting what it says is a very strong prime Central London market.
Savills substantially increased its market share in properties valued over £5m, for which transaction volumes during the period were above previous peak levels.
It results say: “It is clear that, against the backdrop of international economic and political challenge, prime London residential markets have been seen as a haven for the world’s investors.
“The attraction of London’s transparency and relative liquidity at most stages of the cycle has increasingly been supplemented by the significant rise in demand for rented accommodation and the associated growth in rental values.
“In contrast, the country market remained quiet for much of the period with 16% fewer exchanges than H1 2010. We anticipate that this two-tier market will continue through the second half and into 2012.”
It says its strong results reflect the continued strength of Savills operations in Asia Pacific and London, growing revenues in fund management and the beneficial effect of relative recovery in the US market.
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