Further Growth from Northwood Subsidiary

RNS Number : 8490V

Belvoir Lettings PLC

08 November 2017

 

For immediate release

8 November 2017

 BELVOIR!

BELVOIR LETTINGS PLC

(the 'Group' or 'Belvoir')

Further Growth from Northwood Subsidiary

Franchisee Led Acquisitions

Belvoir lettings plc (AIM:BLV), the UK's largest property franchise, is pleased to provide the following update on the good progress being achieved at Northwood, one of the Group's wholly owned subsidiaries, whose franchise network has completed on  five portfolio acquisitions in the past two months.

At the end of August, Belvoir reported that as part of the Belvoir Group, Northwood franchisees had benefitted from Belvoir's Assisted Acquisitions programme with five franchisees having successfully completed on portfolio acquisitions.  Since then, and with almost 50% of the Northwood 87 strong office network having registered on the programme, a further five acquisitions have been completed bringing the total for the year to date to ten.  This Group-wide service involves Belvoir Central Office providing practical support and part funding for franchisee led acquisitions, something that was not available to Northwood franchisees under previous ownership and is a key contributor to the Group's growth strategy.

Together, these ten acquisitions have added around 1,000 new properties under management to the Group and will generate an additional £140,000 p.a. of Management Service Fees, the Group's core revenue stream, for Belvoir.

Since June 2016, Northwood has been able to accelerate its growth under ownership by Belvoir, driven by a combination of franchisee portfolio acquisitions, organic growth and synergistic benefits from merging some of the Northwood support functions into Belvoir's extensive Central Office team.

Dorian Gonsalves, CEO of Belvoir, commented:

"Our confidence in Northwood, its senior management team and its franchise network to deliver strong growth as part of the Belvoir Group has been more than justified.  With the reduced cost base following restructuring of certain functions announced earlier this year and given the robust growth arising from these ten franchise led acquisitions, the Board is delighted with the performance of Northwood.  It is a huge credit to both teams within Northwood and Belvoir who have made the assimilation of Northwood into the Group such a success."

Enquiries:

Belvoir Lettings plc                                         Dorian Gonsalves, Chief Executive Officer Louise George, Chief Financial Officer	01476 584 900
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe                                             Rick Thompson Philip Davies Will Goode	0207 894 7000
Buchanan            Charles Ryland Vicky Hayns Madeleine Seacombe [e-mail]	0207 466 5000

About Belvoir Lettings PLC

Founded in 1995 and listed on AIM in 2012 (BLV.L), Belvoir operates a nationwide property franchise group with 300 offices across four brands offering a range of specialist services in property rental, property management, residential lettings, buy to let and property sales. With its Central Office in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the Group manages over 57,000 properties and reported revenue of £9.9m in 2016 making Belvoir the largest property franchise group in the UK.

Belvoir's core revenue is derived from Management Service Fees (MSF); a reliable recurring revenue model through which the Group offers franchisees significant support and advice.

In 2015 Belvoir launched its multi-brand franchising strategy and now owns Newton Fallowell Limited in the East Midlands, Goodchilds Estate Agents and Lettings Limited in the West Midlands and Northwood GB Limited, a nationwide network.  In total, the Group operates from 300 territories within the UK.  In July 2017, the Group acquired Brook Financial Services Ltd, a mortgage broker and financial service provider.

The Company remains committed to diversifying its brand portfolio, utilising the Group's strong franchising expertise and infrastructure, in order to capitalise on a consolidating market.

Important information

This announcement is not intended to, and does not, constitute, represent or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation of an offer to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities whether pursuant to this announcement or otherwise.

The distribution of this announcement in jurisdictions outside the United Kingdom may be restricted by law or regulation and therefore any person who comes into possession of this announcement should inform themselves about, and comply with, such restrictions. Any failure to comply with such restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws or regulations of any such relevant jurisdiction.

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the FCA, is acting for the Company and for no one else in connection with the matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Cantor Fitzgerald Europe or for providing advice in relation to the contents of this announcement, or any other matters referred to in this announcement.

Forward-looking statements

This announcement may contain "forward-looking statements" relating to the Belvoir Group and the business sector in which it operates. Generally, the words "will", "may", "should", "continue", "believes", "expects", "intends", "anticipates", "forecast", "plan" and "project" or similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect Belvoir's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Many of these risks, assumptions and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond Belvoir's abilities to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, changes in general economic and business conditions and the behaviour of other market participants. Belvoir cannot give any assurance that the forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. The reader should not, therefore, place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement. Belvoir does not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any of the forward-looking statements set out in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.

 

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