Savills plc, the international real estate advisor, today announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Key financial highlights

• Group revenue up 23% to £2.15bn (2020: £1.74bn)
• Underlying* profit before tax up 107% to £200.3m (2020: £96.6m)
• Reported profit before tax up 120% to £183.1m (2020: £83.2m)
• Reported basic earnings per share (‘EPS’) up 114% to 104.9p (2020: 49.0p)
• Aggregate dividend of 55.4p to be paid in May 2022, includes a one-time special dividend of 27.05p
• Net cash** £340.7m (2020: £177.7m)

* Underlying profit before tax ('underlying profit') is calculated on a consistently reported basis in accordance with Note 3 to this Preliminary Statement.
** Net cash reflects cash and cash equivalents net of borrowings and overdrafts in the notional pooling arrangement (see Note 8).

Key operating highlights

• 2020’s strategy of maintaining full operating strength and high levels of client service positioned the Group well for the progressive recovery in 2021.
• Transactional Advisory revenues up 34% in recovering markets; Commercial Transaction revenue increased 35% overall with strong growth in the UK and Asia Pacific. Residential Transaction revenue up 31%.
• Less transactional businesses, in aggregate 58% of Group revenue, continue to perform well with revenue up 17%.
• Property and Facilities Management revenue up 9%, Consultancy revenue up 24%.
• Savills Investment Management revenue up, driven by base management fees growth of 30%. Assets under Management (‘AUM’) up 22% at €25.8bn.
• The Group entered a significant strategic partnership between Savills Investment Management and Samsung Life Insurance (‘SLI’) to accelerate the future growth of the Savills Investment Management business.
• Continued investment in people, technology leadership and innovation in sustainability including the launch of Savills Earth consultancy services.

Commenting on the results, Mark Ridley, Group Chief Executive, said:

“Savills delivered a record performance in 2021 reflecting the significant recovery in both residential and commercial transactional markets supported by growth in our less transactional Investment Management, Property Management and Consultancy businesses.

The war in Ukraine has shocked the world and, in response, Savills is providing support both through international charities and via our Polish operation, focussing particularly on Ukrainian refugees. Our thoughts are with everyone affected in the region and we can only hope for a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible.

At this stage it is too early to predict the economic, including longer term inflationary, impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the world’s real estate markets. Subject to this key uncertainty, we would anticipate real estate transaction volumes and discretionary spend to normalise in the year ahead, alongside the continued recovery of global markets as they emerge from pandemic-related disruptions.

The Group has started 2022 in line with our expectations and the strength of our balance sheet supports our growth strategy to pursue further complementary acquisitions and significant recruitment across our global business.”

Read the full results

The analyst presentation will be held at 9.30am today by webinar. For joining instructions please contact nrichards@savills.com. A recording of the presentation will be available from noon at https://ir.savills.com.