Business
Trading Update for the quarter ended 31 March 2016
Trading Update for the quarter ended 31 March 2016.
About this update from Foxtons Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 4258W Foxtons Group PLC 27 April 2016 \n\n \nFOXTONS GROUP PLC\nTrading Update\n27 April 2016\n \nFoxtons plc (LSE: FOXT), London's leading estate agency, issues its trading update for the quarter ended 31 March 2016\n \nTotal group revenue for the quarter was £38.4m, up 16.2% compared with the first quarter last year. This strong performance was principally driven by a 28.5% increase in property sales commissions resulting from a significant increase in transactions completing before the introduction in April of the 3% stamp duty surcharge on buy-to-let investments and second homes. With a large number of completions brought forward, the sales pipeline for the second quarter is therefore lower than prior year. \n \nLettings revenue was flat on prior year as tenants continued to renew existing tenancies and enter into longer tenancy periods. Our newly established \"Institutional Private Rental Sector\" business has just won its first mandate, and we will continue to develop and invest in new initiatives to enhance our lettings business. \n \nAlexander Hall, our mortgage broker, continued the strong growth seen last year with revenue up 57.6% for the quarter.\n \nWe continue to see significant opportunities to expand our network across London with a focus on outer London territories with strong growth potential. During the quarter we opened four new branches in Loughton, New Malden, Sutton and Fulham (Bishops Park), increasing the network to 62 branches. Three more offices are scheduled to open in 2016, all outside Zone 1.\n \nNic Budden, CEO, said:\n \n\"We have had a strong start to the year with a record first quarter driven by a number of sales transactions being brought forward before the introduction of the additional stamp duty surcharge on buy-to-let properties. Nevertheless, we expect the first half of the year to be challenging with a reduced sales pipeline entering into Q2 and the underlying short term impact on transaction volumes from the uncertainty around the European referendum. Our expansion strategy remains on track as we continue to increase our market share in outer London.\" \n \nFor further information, please contact:\nFoxtons Group plc \n\n\n\n...