31st Mar 2015 12:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Estate agency group MartinCo PLC Tuesday said its pretax profit more than doubled in 2014 on the back of the acquisition of the Xperience business, with revenue rising and the group paying its first final dividend.
MartinCo said its pretax profit rose to GBP1.9 million, from GBP0.9 million in 2013, boosted by a 25% rise in revenue to GBP5.2 million from GBP4.1 million.
Revenue was buoyed by strong growth in management service fees, up 16%, and by a more than doubling of franchise sales, driven by both organic growth and by the acquisition of Xperience.
The acquisition of Xperience increased the company's presence substantially, with office numbers up 49% to 282, including 49 new markets. The number of tenanted properties under management at the Martin & Co business was 32,210, up from 30,623, with the total across the group up to more than 42,000, ahead of its target of 40,000.
The company said it would pay a 2.7 pence final dividend, its first, making a total dividend of 4 pence per share.
The group said its core lettings business, which generates 78% of its franchise royalty income, remains in good shape and it expects to see steady organic growth in 2015 in addition to potential further acquisitions.
Shares in MartinCo were up 9.3% to 135.00 pence on Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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