Estate agency M Winkworth PLC on Wednesday reported its half-year profit and revenue had fallen from a pandemic peak but remained ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

Pretax profit was down 46% to £1.1 million from £2.0 million in the first six months of 2022. Revenue was down by 18% to £4.3 million from £5.2 million in the same period last year.

However, both figures were substantially above their pre-pandemic equivalent. Pretax profit was up 85% from the first half of 2019, while revenue was up 68%.

Additionally, sales applicants in July 2022 were 4% ahead of July 2021 and 26% ahead of July 2019.

It declared an interim dividend of 5.4 pence, increased from the 4.4p payout last year.

Chief Executive Officer Dominic Agace said: ‘Our first half results, which are in line with management’s expectations, are not flattered by the comparison with the extraordinarily strong first half of 2021, but show that our business has developed well since the last year of normalised trading in 2019.’

‘We enter the second half with an overhang of unfulfilled business, the confidence that our franchisees are adept at adjusting rapidly to changing markets, and a business model that is designed to perform throughout the property cycle,’ he added.

Looking ahead, the firm believes it can outperform market trends, but did note it is susceptible to bank interest rates and macroeconomic factors. Winkworth said this performance will come from supporting ‘talented and proven franchisees in acquiring businesses’ by expanding ‘our equity ownership of businesses in partnership with established operators.’

Shares in Winkworth were trading 2.2% lower at 178.50 pence each in London on Wednesday midday.

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