REG - Belvoir Group PLC - Trading Update

BelvoirAnnouncement

02/12/2021 07:00

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RNS Number : 2972U  Belvoir Group PLC  02 December 2021

This announcement contains inside information.

     2 December 2021

 

BELVOIR!

 

BELVOIR GROUP PLC

(the "Company" or "Belvoir" or "Group")

 

Trading Update

 

Performance Ahead of Expectations

 

 

Belvoir Group PLC (AIM: BLV), a leading UK property franchise and financial
services Group, is pleased to provide the following Trading Update for the
year to 31 December 2021.

 

The Board is delighted to report that trading in the ten months to the end of
October 2021 was ahead of management's expectations, with both of the Group's
divisions, property and financial services, achieving year-on-year growth.

 

The property division, which contributed 77% of the Group's gross profit,
achieved gross profit growth of 29%.  Income from lettings was 21% up on 2020
resulting from unprecedented demand for rental properties with rents
increasing in all areas of the UK, as well as the acquisition of Nicholas
Humphreys, a predominantly student lettings network.  Meanwhile, income from
sales was up 65%, mainly a result of the strongest market for property
transactions seen since 2007.

 

The financial services division, which contributed 18% of the Group's gross
profit, continued its strong growth with gross profit up by 39%.  Belvoir's
network of mortgage advisers increased by 21% from 202 at the start of the
year to 245 by the end of October. This represented a net increase of 43,
which arose through organic recruitment and 21 from the acquisition of
Nottingham Mortgage Services, the mortgage arm of The Nottingham Building
Society. The Group remained focused on meeting the demand for house purchase
mortgages for much of 2021, and now, given signs that interest rates might
rise, are benefitting from a busy period for remortgages.  The ability of our
advisers to switch between different product sales and our substantial client
base provide a very resilient and agile business model for our financial
services division.

 

The Group's operating activities continue to be highly cash generative
underpinned by Belvoir's significant recurring lettings income stream.  As of
today, net debt is down to £2.7m (31 December 2020: £3.7m) despite having
deployed £4.0m of cash in March to acquire the Nicholas Humphreys network and
£0.6m in July to acquire Nottingham Mortgage Services.

 

Outlook

Current substantial pipelines of house sales and written mortgages support our
end of year forecasts.  Consequently, the Board expects that the performance
for the full year, in terms of profit before tax, will be ahead of
management's expectations for 2021 and substantially ahead of 2020.

 

 

Dorian Gonsalves, CEO, commented:

"In 2021 we have seen our franchisees and mortgage advisers take advantage of
an exceptionally strong sales market.  The sector undoubtedly benefitted
hugely from the Government's decision to extend the stamp duty holiday until
September 2021, following which we have seen a predictable slowing in the
number of new instructions as the market normalises. We anticipate that given
the ongoing pent-up demand from buyers, the market will return to more usual
transaction levels in 2022.  In the meantime, our current pipelines remain
strong and support outperforming our end of year forecasts.

 

The Board is mindful that 2022 is likely to present further challenges for the
wider economy, but we are confident in our business model of supporting
entrepreneurial franchisees and mortgage advisers to achieve their business
ambitions, and that our growth strategy of organic growth coupled with
investment in profitable property franchise and mortgage networks will
continue to prove successful and deliver long-term shareholder value."

 

 

For further details:

 Belvoir Group PLC                                     01476 584900

 Dorian Gonsalves, Chief Executive Officer            investorrelations@belvoirgroup.com (mailto:investorrelations@belvoirgroup.com)

 Louise George, Chief Financial Officer

 www.belvoirgroup.com (http://www.belvoirgroup.com)

 finnCap                                                                                        +44 (0) 20 7220 0500

 Julian Blunt & Teddy Whiley (Corporate Finance)

 Tim Redfern & Charlotte Sutcliffe (ECM)

 www.finncap.com (http://www.finncap.com)

 Buchanan                                              +44 (0) 20 7466 5000

 Charles Ryland, Vicky Hayns & Tilly Abraham

Notes:

About Belvoir Group PLC

Founded in 1995 and listed on AIM in 2012 (BLV.L), Belvoir operates a
nationwide property franchise Group with 467 offices across six brands
specialising in residential lettings, property management, residential sales
and property-related financial services. With its Central Office in Grantham,
Lincolnshire, the Group manages 71,600 properties and reported record revenues
of £21.7m in 2020 marking Belvoir's 24(th) year of unbroken profit growth.

 

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