Shares in property franchise and finance firm Belvoir (BLV:AIM), a running Great Idea, traded up 5% to 294p at the open after the group posted first half results which were ‘significantly ahead’ of management expectations thanks to strong underlying growth.
Revenues for the six months to June were up 41% to £13.8 million, with income from lettings up 21% while income from property sales jumped by 78% thanks to a more favourable housing market compared with last year.
The group’s recent expansion also played a part, with the underlying business contributing 33% growth and 8% coming from the acquisition of the Nicholas Humphreys network in March.
Nicholas Humphreys operates a national network of 20 franchised estate and lettings agents which manage a portfolio of more than 6,500 student lets, providing a strong source of recurrent income.
Group pre-tax profits climbed by 51% to £4.8 million, of which 42% came from the underlying business and 9% came from Nicholas Humphreys, delivering on Belvoir’s promise that the acquisition would be earnings-enhancing.
Chief executive Dorian Gonsalves commented: ‘Having demonstrated the resilience of its business model throughout 2020, in the first half of 2021 the group capitalised on the opportunities arising from the buoyant housing market, and demonstrated that the success of Belvoir's growth strategy has been unaffected by the pandemic.’
The recent acquisition of the Nottingham Building Society’s mortgage arm is expected to generate significant further growth on top of the ‘high’ activity levels across the group coming into the second half, meaning the firm expects to deliver a ‘strong trading performance’ for the full year.
