LONDON (Alliance News) - Belvoir Lettings PLC Thursday reported an increase in pretax profit for the first half, as the lettings specialist announced a new property sales pilot.
Belvoir said pretax profit increased to GBP732,000 for the period ended June 30 from GBP396,000 a year earlier, while revenue increased 35% to GBP2.5 million from GBP1.8 million.
The company said the increase reflected a strong performance across the business, with overall revenue from company-owned outlets rising to GBP836,000, compared with GBP219,000 in 2012.
This increase represents growth in owned outlets to 10 and estate-agency sales fees of GBP143,000, a new source of income for the lettings agency.
Earnings per ordinary share increased to 2.7 pence from 2.4 pence.
Belvoir said it had launched a new estate agency sales pilot this week, which will run for 12 months.
The trial of residential property sales initially includes 10 offices from a cross-section of Belvoir outlets across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These offices will run an estate agency offering alongside their original lettings businesses.
"The sales pilot will not only create organic growth prospects with cross selling opportunities for franchisees but will provide new acquisition opportunities for sales and lettings businesses," the company.
In addition to the pilot scheme, the company will open three new outlets later this month.
The board approved an interim dividend of 3.4 pence per share, up from 2.9 pence.
Belvoir Lettings shares were trading at 184.00 pence Thursday morning, up 5.50 pence, or 3.1%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; anthonytshibangu@alliancenews.com; @AnthonyAllNews
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