(Sharecast News) - Property franchise company Belvoir Group has acquired the TIME Group, it announced on Tuesday, for initial cash of £3.67m.
The AIM-traded firm said the acquisition was expected to be immediately earnings accretive.
TIME, which trades as the Mortgage Advice Bureau, is an appointed representative firm of the AIM-traded Mortgage Advice Bureau Holdings (MAB).
Belvoir said the company provides mortgage and related financial services to clients through its network of 64 advisers, all but two of which are either self-employed or small businesses operating on a self-employed basis licensed to TIME, with MAB providing training, support, compliance, website and national marketing via the wider MAB brand.
The TIME adviser network extended across the north of England and the Midlands, which Belvoir said fit "very well" into its existing network of advisers.
Belvoir said it had acquired the entire issued share capital of TIME, through its subsidiary Brook Financial Services, for net initial consideration of £3.673m, to be settled in cash from existing cash reserves, with an earn-out of up to £0.695m based on profit before tax for the year to 31 July 2022.
Tim Wood, Brook's financial services director, will be managing the TIME business, overseen by Brook managing director and Belvoir executive director Michelle Brook.
For the year ended 31 July, based on unaudited financial statements, TIME generated revenue of £4.18m and adjusted profit before tax of £0.63m.
Within the past three years, the number of mortgage advisers within the TIME network had grown to 64 from 46.
The Belvoir group currently comprises 363 property franchise offices, managing 72,900 properties, and a financial services network of 243 mortgage advisers.
In 2021, the group undertook 12,320 property sales and arranged 16,585 mortgages.
Between TIME and Brook, the financial services division would consist of 307 mortgage advisers.
Belvoir's board said it believed growth for the group would be enhanced through accelerating the nationwide coverage of advisers who could support growth of the mortgage business within its property franchise offices.
"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of TIME, whose network of 64 mortgage advisers will entirely complement our existing financial services network, both in terms of the management infrastructure and geography, creating a total of 307 advisers operating under the Belvoir Group," said chief executive officer Dorian Gonsalves.
"The acquisition of TIME will extend our network of financial advisers to support both our franchisees at a local level, as well as servicing leads from independent agents.
"This will in turn achieve greater penetration of financial services to the group's client base for the benefit of both individual franchisees and the group as a whole."
At 1404 BST, shares in Belvoir Group were up 5.22% at 257.8p.
Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.
