9th Sep 2015 07:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Estate agent MartinCo PLC on Wednesday posted sharply higher pretax profit for the first half of 2015 thanks to better revenue driven by the acquisition of Xperience, prompting it to hike its interim dividend.
Pretax profit for the company in the six months to the end of June was GBP1.2 million, up from the GBP796,225 it made a year earlier, driven by revenue increasing to GBP3.4 million from GBP2.3 million a year earlier.
The group's management service fees in the half were GBP2.9 million, up 61% year-on-year, as the acquisition of Xperience increased the number of trading offices in its portfolio to 284 from 193, while its estate agency offices rose to 253 from 145.
Thanks to the robust results, the company said it would raise its interim dividend by 38% to 1.8 pence per share, up from 1.3p a year earlier.
"We will be increasing our focus in the second half-year on franchise sales activity, as we believe that each of our five brands is capable of further development through a mix of franchisee recruitment, encouragement for existing franchisees to expand, and the conversion of competitors to a franchise model," said Chief Executive Ian Wilson.
"The track record of our letting business is that it has traditionally performed more strongly in the second half of the year and this trading pattern is expected in our estate agency business for 2015," Wilson added.
Shares in MartinCo were up 2.8% to 165.00 pence early Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
MCO.L