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(Alliance News) - Real estate advisor Savills PLC on Thursday edged its annual dividend higher for 2019, as profit for the year was lifted by double-digit revenue growth.
Also on Thursday, Savills said it has acquired US project management firm Macro Consultants LLC for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition was completed on Wednesday, and is part of Savills's strategy to expand the group's real estate consultancy services, particularly in the US.
For 2019, pretax profit increased by 6% to GBP115.6 million from GBP109.4 million the year before, as restructuring costs dropped to GBP25.2 million from GBP29.1 million, and acquisition costs to GBP13.7 million from GBP20.7 million.
Revenue grew by 10% year-on-year to GBP1.93 billion from GBP1.76 billion, driven by a strong performance in its less-transactional business lines.
Segmentally, Transaction Advisory remained the biggest contributor to revenue, growing by 2% in GBP828.2 million, mainly on growth in North America more than offset by a decline in the UK and Asia Pacific.
Property & Facilities Management revenue increased by 17% to GBP684.5 million on contract wins in Asia Pacific and the UK, and Consultancy by 15% at GBP338.1 million.
Savills declared a final dividend of 12.05 pence per share, bringing the total payout to 32.0p, up 2.6% from 31.2p the prior year.
Looking ahead, the group said the coronavirus is a having significant impact on transactional activity in Asia, but said the full impact of this issue on its business for 2020 as a whole is difficult to predict.
However, based on the nature of the real estate market, any slowdown caused by sentiment and measures to combat the virus would lead to a delay in activity instead of an absolute loss of business.
"I am very pleased that Savills delivered a good performance in 2019 in some challenging market conditions. This reflects the strength and resilience of our global, diversified business as we continued to grow our less-transactional service lines and outperform in many of our transactional markets. We continue to focus on growing our less-transactional businesses, increasing our share of the global transactional markets and enhancing the resilience of the business," said Chief Executive Mark Ridley.
Shares in Savills were down 8.2% at 916.50 pence on Thursday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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