Belvoir Group records 26th consecutive year of profit growth and record sales despite uncertainty in the real estate market
- The Lincolnshire-based company’s profit rose marginally to £7.41 million last year
- The strong result allowed the company to reduce its debt by more than three-quarters
- Belvoir said the UK property sector performed better than many had predicted
Belvoir Group has achieved profit growth for the 26th consecutive year, despite a more volatile real estate market and weak consumers.
After-tax profit at the Lincolnshire-based real estate group, one of the UK’s largest franchised property companies with around 75,000 properties in its managed portfolio, grew marginally to £7.41m last year.
Belvoir’s turnover rose 14 per cent to a record £33.7 million, mainly due to the recent acquisitions of financial services company TIME Group and personal brokerage firm Mr and Mrs Clarke.
Revenue: Belvoir Group, based in Lincolnshire, one of the UK’s largest franchise houses, posted profitability for the 26th consecutive year
Turnover was further supported by higher rental income, which offset the effects of lower home sales and rising mortgage interest rates.
The strong result enabled the company to cut its debt by more than three-quarters to £2m and announce a 6% increase in total dividend to 9p per share.
Belvoir said the UK housing sector performed better than many predicted at the beginning of last year, with property prices continuing to rise against a backdrop of rising interest rates.
Housing transactions and mortgage volumes were particularly affected by former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s mini-budget in September, which seriously eroded the confidence of potential homebuyers.
The value of new mortgages taken out in the three months following the controversial tax event was £58.4 billion, down 25 per cent year-on-year, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.
Still, the AIM-listed company noted that many customers turned to remortgages as lending for real estate purchases declined.
Chief executive Dorian Gonsalves also said Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s fall statement has “somewhat reassured borrowers and lenders” and helped improve competition in the mortgage market.
Belvoir said market uncertainty would continue to have “some impact” in the first half of this year, but expects to perform well in the broader market.
Compared to the last three months of 2022, the number of sales instructions and mortgage applications has increased by 9 percent and 21 percent respectively since the beginning of January.
“We remain confident that the resilience and diversity of our business model and multi-brand strategy will enable the group to outperform the market as a whole in 2023 and beyond,” Gonsalves noted.
Belvoir Group shares were just 0.2 percent higher at 166.33p on Monday morning, though their value has shrunk by more than a quarter in the past six months.
Finncap analyst Guy Hewett said, “The current share price places little value on the medium to long-term growth potential of a company that has proven adept at maximizing market opportunities, both organically and through acquisitions.”