Savills News

Results for the half year ended 30 June 2018

Savills plc today announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2018.

Savills plc today announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2018.

Key Financial Information

  • Group revenue up 2% (5% in constant currency*) to £727.8m (H1 2017: £714.4m)
  • Group underlying profit** before tax down 12% (10% in constant currency) to £42.4m (H1 2017: £48.1m)
  • Group profit before tax down 18% to £26.7m (H1 2017: £32.4m)
  • Underlying basic earnings per share 23.4p (H1 2017: 25.7p)
  • Basic earnings per share 13.8p (H1 2017: 16.1p)
  • Interim dividend up 3% to 4.8p per share (H1 2017: 4.65p)

* Revenue and underlying profit for the period are translated at the prior period exchange rates to provide a constant currency comparative.
** Underlying profit before tax (‘underlying profit’) is calculated on a consistently reported basis in accordance with Note 3 to the Interim Financial Statements.

Highlights

  • UK Residential Transaction business grew both revenue and profit during the period. Overall Transaction Advisory revenue flat, impacted by a slowdown in activity in the UK commercial market.
  • Strong growth from Continental Europe, both organic and through the integration of Aguirre Newman in Spain.
  • Property and Facilities Management revenue up 7%, Consultancy revenue up 4%.
  • Continued expansion and investment through acquisitions and recruitment. In particular, the acquisition of the Cluttons Middle East business providing access to a new region for the Group.
  • Savills Investment Management revenue declined, as anticipated, reflecting the late stage of the liquidation of the German Open Ended Funds. £0.7bn capital raised during the period and period end AUM up 1% at €16.2bn.
  • Board’s expectations for the full year remain unchanged.

Commenting on the results, Jeremy Helsby, Group Chief Executive of Savills plc, said:

“In the face of some challenging market conditions, Savills has delivered a resilient first half performance reflecting our geographic diversity, breadth of operations, recent business investment activity and the strength of our UK residential business.

In line with our overall growth strategy, we have continued to invest across the business, which has affected profits in the short term. During the period we completed the acquisition of Cluttons Middle East, providing Savills a strategic platform for growth in this region. In addition, in the UK we further enhanced our leading property management platform announcing the acquisition of the third party property management portfolio of ‘Broadgate Estates’ from British Land.

Continued growth in our less transactional businesses, significant overseas earnings and strong shares in many of our most important transactional markets position Savills well to weather fluctuations in markets and to capitalise on the opportunities which we expect to emerge over time.

We have a robust pipeline of activity for the second half, despite an environment of escalating political and economic uncertainty, and we continue to anticipate that our performance for the full year will be in line with the Board’s expectations.”

Read the full statement

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