Business
Half Year Trading Update & Notice of Results
Half Year Trading Update & Notice of Results.
About this update from Property Franchise Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n2 August 2023\n \nTHE PROPERTY FRANCHISE GROUP PLC\n(\"TPFG\", the \"Company\" or the \"Group\")\n \nHalf Year Trading Update and\nNotice of Results\n \nThe Property Franchise Group PLC, the UK's largest property franchisor, is pleased to provide an update on trading ahead of publishing its interim results on Tuesday 12 September 2023.\n \nH1 2023 performance was in line with management's expectations, driven by the Group's lettings heritage and the continued focus on growing its lettings revenues. In the period, the Group achieved a slightly higher revenue performance over H1 2022, notwithstanding the comparative period benefitting from a significantly stronger residential housing market.\n \n \nHighlights:\n \n· Group revenue increased 1% to £13.2m (H1 2022: £13.1m)\n· Management Service Fees (\"royalties\" or \"MSF\") increased 3% to £7.7m (H1 2022: £7.5m)\n· Sales' agreed pipeline decreased 16% to £28.4m (H1 2022: £33.8m)\n· Managing 77,000 rental properties (H1 2022: 74,000)\n· EweMove sold 17 new territories (H1 2022: 19)\n· Net cash of £0.7m (H1 2022: net debt of £2.6m)\n \n \nLettings MSF continued to perform strongly, achieving 12% growth over H1 2022. This growth more than offset the reduction in sales MSF over the same period as the residential sales market continued to adjust to the uncertainty regarding inflation, interest rates and house prices. Sustained demand for lettings properties, growth in the portfolio of managed properties and rental inflation meant lettings MSF continued to be a growing and highly resilient revenue stream for the Group, contributing 61% (H1 2022: 55%) of total MSF in the period.\n \nSeasonally adjusted UK Property Transactions* at 521,950 for June 2023 YTD were 20% lower than H1 2022, a trend reflected in Hunters performance, whilst other brands grew market share. The Group's pipeline of agreed sales remains very healthy. Lead times for converting agreed sales into completions have lengthened in the same way that they did in H1 2022, and management expects sales transactions in 2023 to...