Foxtons: London estate agent hikes dividend as turnaround plan gathers steam
London estate agent Foxtons has bucked a pallid property market to report healthy rise in revenue and profit, and raise its dividend, in yet another sign of the turnaround being navigated by its new chief executive.
The London-listed estate agent, whose iconic green and yellow Minis helped it to become one of the capital’s most distinctive estate agents, saw its revenue rise 11 per cent in the half year ended June 30, up from £70.9m to £78.5m year-on-year.
Adjusted operating profit rose from £6.8m to £8.5m – a rise of 24 per cent – while basic earnings per share rose 36 per cent from 1.4p to 1.9p.
The return to form allowed the estate agent to announce a 10 per cent hike to its interim dividend, which rose from 0.2p to 0.22p.
Guy Gittins, Foxtons‘ chief executive, said: “”The strong momentum we started the year with has continued, with double-digit revenue and earnings growth and our position as London’s largest Lettings and Sales agency reinforced.
“Despite macro headwinds and the election interruption, we continued to outperform the market, delivering strong Sales revenue growth of 28 per cent and market share growth of 30 per cent. Growth was also delivered in Lettings, with a double-digit increase in new business volumes, further bolstered by the acquisitions we made in 2023.”
Improvements in revenue were dominated by a well-performing sales division, where earnings were up 28 per cent thanks to transaction levels beginning to return to more normal levels after several years of stagnation.
The firm’s lettings arm, which is the main revenue driver at the FTSE All Share constituent, rose 5 per cent to £52.4m.
The results cement what has been an impressive turnaround at the estate agent in the last year, which had endured years of difficulty between 2021 and 2023 despite a the wider property market being in relatively robust health.
Going back further makes for even more grim reading. At the time of Foxtons’ IPO in September 2013, the company had a market value of £753m. Today the firm has a market capitalization of around £156.67m.
But since Gittins took the reins in in September 2022, the firm’s fortunes have improved. After steadying an initial fall, Foxtons’ share price is up 87 per cent per cent, as he endeavours to return the company to the “high energy culture” that made it such a dominant force on the London estate agency market.