Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 9639H

LSL Property Services

12 November 2008

 



For Immediate Release

12 November 2008

LSL Property Services plc

(the 'Company' or the 'Group')

Interim Management Statement

LSL Property Services plc, a leading provider of residential estate agency, financial and surveying services, today announces its Interim Management Statement in respect of the period 1 July 2008 to 12 November 2008.

Since 1 July 2008, the Group has continued to perform in line with management's expectations against a continued backdrop of an extremely challenging housing market.

Turnover for the ten months ended 31 October 2008 compared with the same period in 2007 was as follows:

• Group turnover for the period was down by 22.4%

• Surveying turnover was down by 6.4%

• Estate Agency and Financial Services turnover was down by 33.3%

Surveying:

The surveying division has continued to grow its market share in the face of the contraction in the mortgage and remortgage markets. Overall, the division has performed slightly behind management's expectations despite the greater than anticipated contraction in market activity levels. The impact of the market contraction has been largely offset by increased market share during this period and the implementation of significant cost reduction measures. The division is therefore well placed for the current environment and well positioned to take advantage of a future upturn in mortgage lending activity

Estate Agency & Financial Services:

Transaction volumes in the estate agency division have stabilised in recent weeks and are slightly ahead of expectations. This, together with cost efficiencies commensurate with lower activity levels, gives us confidence that the division will perform slightly ahead of our expectations for 2008. 

Management focus in the estate agency businesses has been on maximising counter-cyclical and non-transactional income streams, such as lettings and the development of the Group's repossession asset management business. These income streams are making a significant contribution to the overall revenue of the division. 

Financial services activity has stabilised in recent weeks, despite obvious sector volatility. Substantial cost efficiencies coupled with the identification of wider revenue opportunities particularly around protection and general insurance sales have made a positive contribution to the performance of this division.

Outlook:

The Group is well capitalised, with committed bank facilities until July 2011. It continues to demonstrate an encouraging level of resilience in the face of extremely challenging market conditions, and as a consequence the Board is confident that it will meet its full year expectations.  The growth of the lettings and asset management businesses has helped to mitigate reductions elsewhere within the Group.

The Board expects existing market conditions to persist for the remainder of 2008 and is not planning for any recovery in 2009. Whilst there are some limited signs that the more recent Government intervention and Bank of England actions are having a stabilising effect on the sector, the timing of any market recovery remains difficult to predict.  

Longer term, the Group is well placed to deliver significant growth and benefit from the sizeable cost reduction measures implemented during 2008, once market conditions improve.

For further information please contact:

Simon Embley, Group Chief Executive Officer

Dean Fielding, Group Finance Director

LSL Property Services plc                                           01904 715324

Richard Darby, Catherine Breen

Buchanan Communications                                        020 7466 5000

Notes to Editors:

LSL Property Services plc is one of the leading residential property services companies in the UK and provides a broad range of services to its clients who are principally mortgage lenders, as well as buyers and sellers of residential properties.

For further information, please visit our website:  www.lslps.co.uk

 

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