12th Jan 2017 10:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Savills PLC jumped Thursday morning, after the property adviser said it expects its results for 2016 to be "meaningfully ahead" of expectations.
FTSE 250-listed Savills said it experienced a strong finish to the year, noting the completion of "significant volumes" of commercial and residential transactions, and said it benefited from the weakening of the sterling.
Savills' shares were trading at 744.50 pence on Thursday, up 7.8% for the day, after having recovered most of the ground lost in the wake of the Brexit vote when shares declined 30%. Shares are now 4.6% below their pre-Brexit levels.
In its statement on Thursday, Savills said it had actually seen increased market share in commercial investment transactions in the UK, primarily resulting from post-Brexit interest emanating from overseas.
The group said its UK residential business, meanwhile, performed "rather better than expected", notwithstanding a slower December, and said the top end of the market showed currency-related drivers of investment activity from international buyers.
The international interest "largely mitigated the anticipated reduction in transactional activity during the year", the property adviser said.
Savills in August had warned that it was anticipating a period of "relatively lower volumes" as markets adjusted to events such as the Brexit vote and the US presidential election in November, as well as tightening of fiscal policy. However, Savills had said at the time that it was "not possible to obtain a clear read on the direction of activity" in a number of its markets.
Around 41% of Savills revenue is generated from its UK operations.
Savills' Asia Pacific and Continental Europe businesses performed ahead of its expectations during the year, offsetting a flat performance in the US, particularly in respect to major or complex occupier transactions. Savills said "corporations have tended to defer significant decision making in advance of the change of US administration".
The firm said its less transactional businesses performed in line with its expectations during the year, though was also helped in the final quarter by the devaluation of the sterling against major currencies. Savills said this further boosted its reported profits.
Savills said its Investment Management business completed a "number of significant disposal transactions earlier than anticipated", which benefited the group in 2016. As such, Savills said this moderated its expectations for the transactional element of the business in 2017.
Savills said, for 2017, it was also expecting the strong transaction volumes of recent times to temper in many markets against a backdrop of heightened uncertainty relating to global economic prospects, geopolitical risks and rising bond yields. As such, Savills said it was leaving its original expectations for 2017 unchanged.
Savills will post its 2016 results on March 22.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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