Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
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Announced today that Michael Stoop is retiring although he'll remain as a consultant for a further 12 months.
http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/martin-co-planning-to-triple-in-size-over-next-few-years/
Link below. Please let me know your thoughts!! http://fmp-tv.co.uk/companies/martinco
Please find a link to a short TV interview (<5mins) with CEO giving a basic overview of the business. I would welcome any feedback you might have!! http://fmp-tv.co.uk/companies/martinco
Following today's decent set of results http://www.fmp-tv.co.uk/companies/martinco
This remains on my watch list and not long ago looked good value at 90p. Broker targets of 1.60 still show potential too just it lacks volume quite frequently so poor spread.
and the presenter was open and honest. Seems a pretty safe share and pays a divi. They hope to grow through acquisitions. I was interested to hear that they would have bought Hunters if possible but Hunters are going down the route of an IPO. Interesting points here too by Sain@vision but the presenter said 85% of the franchisees are 'very good'. There was very little overlap between its branches and they were keen to keep the brands separate.. He also said it takes two to three years to generate good profits from a franchisee. The charts he showed seemed to show good retention of franchisees but I would have need to examine them a bit closer. Might be worth a punt if it weakens in the run up to the general election with uncertainty around rates and mansion taxes etc which could affect housing sentiment.
Martin & Co has reported a 24% rise in revenue for last year, from £4.1m to £5.1m. Of that, £0.3m of income was attributable to Xperience, which Martin & Co bought from Legal & General in October, increasing its network from 194 to 282 offices and adding 44 more franchise areas. In an update for the year ended December 31, 2014, Martin & Co also said that the number of managed properties increased from 30,623 to 32,201.
As owner of 2 franchises what % of your business comes in through the door because of the brand.Surely if you are a succeessful franchisee after 3 years or so and developed the business and become established dont you reach a tipping point where its worth your while going solo and retaining those hard earned fees given to the company? Wearing your shareholder hat isnt the success of Martin Co dependent therefore to a large extent therefore on the mediocrity of the franchisees as if they are any good they are going to go solo? Difficult to accelerate a new rollout as too much competition
They do seem to be dabbling into too many areas... which is difficult to get right without sacrifice. It can be achieved though but then involves a lot of people. It's the individuals you deal with that make the place a success - we've had 3 different owners of the local Martin's franchise. The first were utterly appalling, the second were absolutely fantastic, the current ones seem ok but seem to have a lot of people involved so lost the personal touch.
As both a shareholder and operator of 2 x Martin & Co franchises, I am concerned that the integration of the new brands into the plc is not progressing at all smoothly. Whilst I suspect and hope that there may be selling opportunities ahead (so I can hope to offload my stocks for a small profit) I have concerns about the long-term growth potential.
Well at least it doesnt work out at £8m per office like Foxtons and thats current with the Sp tanking from over 400p to 150p in 6months!!
http://www.hubinvest.com/AIMPDFNovember2014_62.pdf Property lettings franchise company MartinCo is acquiring the property franchise business of Legal & General and this deal should be immediately earnings enhancing. MartinCo will pay £5m plus a further figure of around £1m depending on the net assets of the acquired business, while its managing director, Michael Stoop, will become group managing director of MartinCo. MartinCo recently secured a £5m five-year loan facility with Santander and it had £5.46m in the bank at the end of June 2014. There is also a ten-year agreement with Legal & General for access to its mortgage, life assurance and general insurance products for all of the MartinCo group’s franchisees The acquisition brings with it 89 offices and 75 franchisees, under the brands CJ Hole, Ellis and Co, Parkers and hitegates. MartinCo says that each of its five brands can be developed although the MartinCo brand is the national one. The other four are regionally focused and they have more of a mix of property lettings and estate agency business – MartinCo recently started offering estate agency services. In the first half of 2014, the number of MartinCo offices offering estate agency services increased from 97 to 145 and the revenue generated from this activity by franchisees was more than £1m in the period. In September, it started an online estate agency service, which charges a flat fee. The enlarged group will generate 19% of its revenues from estate agency. MartinCo did not previously trade in 44 of the acquired franchise areas, particularly in regions around Bristol, the M4 corridor, Yorkshire, Lancashire & Merseyside and in London. There will be 46 offices in Greater London, out of a total of 283 offices. There are more than 43,000 managed properties in the group. There should be a £300,000 contribution to revenues in the last two months of 2014. In 2013, the business made a pre-tax profit of £600,000 on revenues of £1.8m. Bournemouth-based MartinCo was founded in 1986 and started franchising under the Martin & Co brand in 1995. MartinCo joined AIM at the end of 2013. The shares are trading on 15 times previous forecast earnings for 2015 but this figure will be reduced by the acquisition.
Looked great value just over a £1 (close to listing price) but didn't take the plunge.
Buying and selling the odd 33 shares etc. Unless of course they are dividends reinvested but seem over a long period? Probably nothing but anyone have any views.
Don't seem to bad but are they below expectations? Hence small drop? Any views?
I have been a commercial property surveyor most of my working life and the business model does concern me. Most of the new franchisees are novice, unqualified sales orientated personnel.I understand the appeal of launching with a recognisable brand like Martin and Belvoir, .a helping hand and a good national website.Whether that by itself is sufficent to get local instructions especially as now all local residential agents do lettings as well .Lets assume that the local franchisee is successful Wouldnt they then ditch the brand ,trade in their own name once established and wave goodbye to the franchise fees? As you say the brand can easily get ruined by poor franchiseesand the good ones go
I know the branches near me are really pushing the sales side of things now. Be interesting to see how that evolves, I'm aware its been happening in other areas for some time. Like all franchises the issues can be with the personnel. A few years ago near me they were absolutely shocking, I mean appalling, they left and the people who took over were some of the best people in that industry I've met. Its been taken over again and my judgement is currently open. My point here is to show caution on some reviews of the agents as whilst representing a brand its the people running it who make the difference.
Income received from MCO per franchise has been less than Belvoir .Both are reporting this month and almost identical in market capitalisation .MCO made a decision last year to opt out of owning directly whilst Belvoir are prepared to do a mix and match. Like Belvoir the BODS at MCO dont look overly impressive but their website looks good!.
Yes . Good brand .Watching for the last couple of months Waiting for a retrace and considering plunging in shortly. I was particular scathing about Belvoir mainly because the IPO was purely to pay the wife off not to fund expansion. The BODS didnt look very impressive either and the wing commander founder still owns 36% of the shares which could cause a right ripple if he ever decided to bale out fully Ive been proved wrong as the franchise is well thought of and they are going well .
Continued to monitor this one and wondering if good time to buy back in, resources permitting? Anyone else reviewing this one?
Yes I think this is one I'm going to regret not staying in. Think it will be a steady grower over the long term
Recommended today by Midas share tips.
Well results didn't exactly take this share anywhere! It will probably rise long term but I've decided I'm out and will add to my focus elsewhere.