(Sharecast News) - Property franchise Belvoir Group hiked its full-year dividend on Monday as it said pre-tax profits had grown in 2021 after annual revenues hit an all-time high.
Belvoir said pre-tax profits had surged 39% to £9.3m in the twelve months ended 31 December for the group's 25th successive year of profit growth, driven by a 37% increase in revenues to a new record of £29.6m.
Like-for-like growth accounted for 25% of said revenue growth, and management services fees, a key underlying return from franchisees, rose 18% to £10.7m in 2021.
Belvoir also stated it had ended the year with net cash of £7.4m, up from £5.9m a year earlier, while net debt was cut to £1.3m from £3.7m despite the firm forking out £4.4m on acquisitions throughout the course of the year.
As a result of the solid trading and its improved cash position, Belvoir stated its full-year dividend had been bumped up 18% to 8.5p per share.
Chief executive officer Dorian Gonsalves said: 2021 was the busiest year for our sector in recent times with residential property sales transactions at their highest level since 2007, which boosted both our growing estate agency and financial services businesses. We worked closely with our property franchisees and financial services advisers to ensure that they were best placed to respond to the strong market conditions, which drove significant organic growth of 25%.
"Given our significant recurring and reliable lettings revenue stream and our substantial financial services client base to draw upon during what is currently a strong market for remortgages, we remain confident that we will continue to perform well relative to the market as a whole, and that our business model and growth strategy will continue to deliver enhanced value for all our stakeholders."
As of 0835 BST, Belvoir shares were up 3.14% at 263.0p.
