Acquisitions of Gordon & Co and Stones Residential

RNS Number : 8449M

Foxtons Group PLC

26 May 2022

 

FOXTONS GROUP PLC (the "Company" or "Foxtons")

Acquisitions of Gordon & Co and Stones Residential

Delivering on acquisition strategy and reinforcing position as London's largest lettings agent

26 May 2022 - Foxtons Group plc (LSE: FOXT), London's leading estate agency, is pleased to announce the acquisition of two estate agents (the "Acquisitions") for a total consideration of £10.55m which will be funded through the Company's existing cash resources:

· IMM Properties Ltd, trading under the name Gordon & Co ("Gordon & Co") in South London; and

· Stones Residential (Stanmore) Holdings Ltd ("Stones Residential") in Stanmore, North London

The Acquisitions are high quality estate agents, with strong lettings businesses that together generate over 80% of their total combined revenues from lettings services across 2,500 tenancies.

Strategic rationale

The Acquisitions represent another significant step forward in our strategy to deliver attractive total returns on invested capital, improve the resilience of our revenues and reinforce our position as London's largest lettings agent.

Since 2019, Foxtons has increased the size of its lettings portfolio by 40% and now stands at over 27,500 tenancies, achieved both through acquisition and organic growth. In 2022, we expect lettings and financial services revenues, which are both resilient and recurring in nature, to represent around 70% of Group turnover.

Previous acquisitions continue to deliver returns in line with expectations. In particular, the Douglas & Gordon lettings business which has now been fully integrated into our highly scalable lettings infrastructure is expected to deliver operating profit in excess of £4m in 2022.

Terms of the Acquisitions and financial impact

The Directors believe that the Acquisitions will be earnings enhancing in 2022 and through the delivery of synergies will deliver an attractive return on invested capital. The terms of the Acquisitions are set out below.

Gordon & Co

Gordon & Co is being acquired for total consideration of £8.35m, adjusted for current assets less total liabilities at completion . £1.5m of the consideration is deferred for a period of 12 months subject to the business achieving certain performance targets. The business is being bought from certain private individual shareholders.

The acquisition of Gordon & Co constitutes a class 2 transaction pursuant to the UK Listing Rules. For the purposes of the LR 10.4.1 R (Notification of class 2 transactions), Gordon & Co's unaudited revenue and operating profit for the 12 months ending 31 March 2022 was 4.0m and 0.1m respectively. Gross assets as at 31 March 2022 were 1.0m. Post-completion profitability will be significantly enhanced from historical levels through the delivery of synergies.

Stones Residential

Stones Residential is being acquired for total consideration of £2.2m, adjusted for current assets less total liabilities at completion . £0.2m of the consideration is deferred for a period of 12 months subject to the business achieving certain performance targets. Stones Residential's unaudited revenue for the 12 months ending 31 December 2021 was 1.3m.

Nic Budden, Chief Executive Officer of Foxtons, commented: "Acquiring Gordon & Co and Stones Residential is a great opportunity for Foxtons to expand our coverage and reinforces our position as London's largest lettings agent. We look forward to welcoming the teams to the Foxtons Group. Since 2019, we have acquired six lettings portfolios and grown our tenancies by 40%, which demonstrates good progress against our strategy to generate attractive returns for our shareholders. We now serve over 27,500 tenancies, which alongside financial services, deliver resilient and recurring revenues and represent around 70% of our Group turnover."

For further information, please contact:

Foxtons Group plc	[e-mail]
Chris Hough, Chief Financial Officer Muhammad Patel, Investor Relations	[phone]
TB Cardew	[e-mail]
Ed Orlebar / Tom Allison	[phone]/ [phone]
Deborah Goodier	[phone]

About

Foxtons is London's leading estate agent with the most recognised brand. Founded in 1981, Foxtons operates from a network of interconnected branches, offering a range of residential related services across three revenue streams: lettings, sales and financial services.

Foxtons is confident it can deliver significant shareholder value by delivering against core strategic objectives:

· Driving organic revenue growth through market share growth, developing new revenue channels and enhancing cross-sell capabilities;

· Identifying, acquiring, and integrating high quality lettings portfolios; and

· Achieving profit growth by increasing staff productivity and continuing to streamline infrastructure and management.

To find out more, please visit www.foxtonsgroup.co.uk 

 

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