LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - British property consultancySavills said pretax profits rose 21 percent in 2012,beating analyst expectations, helped by strong deal activity inAsia as well as buyer demand for plush offices and homes incentral London.
Savills, which competes globally with CBRE Group andJones Lang LaSalle, said on Thursday gross underlyingprofit before tax for the year to the end-Dec rose to 60.8million pounds ($90.7 million) from 50.4 million in 2011.
Group revenue increased 12 percent to 806.4 million pounds.
Analysts expected Savills to post pre-tax profits of 57.5million pounds and 774.4 million pounds in revenue, ThomsonReuters data showed.
The growth was led by Asia Pacific, where government effortsto cool housing markets in areas such as Hong Kong drove buyerstowards commercial property.
Savills also said it had benefited from strong appetite foroffice property in London, which has been a target in recentyears for investors seeking safe havens from global economicturmoil. Profits in the UK grew 11 percent.
In continental Europe where it posted losses, the companysaid concerns over the potential break-up of the euro zone andthe weak economy depressed capital markets, leading to a weakerperformance in Sweden, Italy and Germany.
"We have made a strong start to 2013, particularly in the UKand Asia, and we expect to make further progress across thegroup in the year ahead," said Savills' chairman Peter Smith.
"We anticipate delivering continued improvements in ourbusinesses in continental Europe and the U.S. although we aremindful of the risk of further weakness in some of thesemarkets," he said.
Savills raised its dividend for the full year by 19 percentto 16 pence per share.