Foxtons Group’s financial services revenue for 2024 was up around 6% with its final quarter of the year showing a striking 15% improvement on Q4 2023.
The data came in a trading statement issued to the company’s shareholders.
The statement says the improvement is down to operational upgrades under a new managing director, Richard Merrett, who was brought back to the business last year by the new Foxtons chief executive Guy Gittins.
The improved financial services performance wasn’t the only good news for Foxtons shareholders.
Foxtons recorded a 5% increase in its lettings income in 2024, taking this to 65% of the group’s overall revenue.
In unaudited figures released to shareholders, the company says that overall it saw 11% revenue growth to some £163m – that’s up from £147.1m a year earlier. Adjusted operating profit grew by a third to some £19m.
The 5% annual growth in lettings includes a dramatic 11% rise in lettings for the fourth quarter, and the company tells shareholders: “Lettings remains a high-quality source of resilient revenues, and its non-cyclical and recurring characteristics continue to underpin the Group’s earnings and cash generation.”
Foxtons continued its acquisition strategy in the year, adding over 2,900 tenancies to its lettings portfolio following the acquisitions of Haslams Estate Agents and Imagine Property Group in October, for £12.6m.
“The acquisitions will act as strategic hubs to unlock growth opportunities in the commuter towns of Reading and Watford, through further synergistic bolt-on acquisitions and organic growth opportunities. To date, both acquisitions have performed in line with expectations” says the trading statement.
Guy Gittins, chief executive officer, says: “I’m delighted that we have delivered a second consecutive year of revenue and profit growth since I returned to the business in September 2022, as our turn-around strategy continues to deliver results, and we ended the year with earnings ahead of market expectations.
“Our renewed focus on training, culture and retention, supported by our best-in-class data and technology, has driven double digit market share gains in Sales, and revenue growth in Lettings. In addition, we have made two acquisitions in commuter towns as we expand into exciting new growth markets.
“We enter 2025 with optimism. We expect the Lettings business to remain resilient and, in Sales, we start the year with the highest opening under-offer pipeline since the Brexit vote in 2016. This dynamic, coupled with our results driven-culture and industry-leading Foxtons Operating platform, leaves us well placed to continue to deliver against our strategic priorities in 2025.”