Savills profit dips in 2022, expects new year to be more challenging

(Alliance News) - Savills PLC on Thursday reported a drop in profit in 2022, as expected, but ...

Alliance News 16 March, 2023 | 10:44AM
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(Alliance News) - Savills PLC on Thursday reported a drop in profit in 2022, as expected, but warned that the first half of 2023 would be more challenging despite a positive start to the year.

The London-based estate agents posted a pretax profit of GBP153.9 million in 2022, down 16% from GBP183.1 million the previous year.

Savills said it had expected the reduction in profit due to the return of certain discretionary costs - such as travel, entertainment and marketing events - as markets unlocked post-Covid, and as a result of staff cost inflation.

It noted that, when compared to a pre-Covid context, underlying profit was 15% ahead of 2019. In 2022, underlying profit fell to GBP164.6 million from GBP200.3 million the year prior. In 2019, underlying profit stood at GBP143.4 million.

Revenue ticked up 7.0% to GBP2.30 billion from GBP2.15 billion in 2021. Savills said this was primarily driven by the performance of its property management business.

The company explained that global real estate investment activity declined "substantially" in 2022, with the majority of the reduction occurring in the final quarter as cumulative interest rate rises and wage inflation began to bite. It expects markets to progressively normalize from the end of the second quarter of 2023.

Savills proposed a final dividend of 13.4 pence per share, up from 12.75p the year prior. This would take the total payout for the year to 20.0p, up from 18.75p.

The firm also declared a supplemental interim dividend of 15.6p per share, in-line with the previous year. This was based upon the underlying performance of its Transaction Advisory business, it explained.

Taken together, the ordinary and supplemental dividends total 35.6p per share for the year, representing an increase of 3.6% on the 2021 ordinary and supplemental dividends, which totalled 34.35p.

Looking forward, Savills said it has started 2023 broadly in-line with expectations but added it believes the first half of the year will be "more challenging" than its 2022 comparative. It said it expects progressive improvement through the second half, however.

"2024 should see more positive conditions for real estate market activity and Savills is both retaining its bench strength and investing in advance of such recovery," Chair Nicholas Ferguson said.

Shares in Savills were down 3.2% at 966.00p on Thursday morning in London.

By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Savills PLC 1,110.00 GBX 0.00 -

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