7 Nov 2019 07:00
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO. 596/2014 ("MAR")
| 7 November 2019 |
BELVOIR! BELVOIR GROUP PLC
(the "Group", "Company" or "Belvoir")
Financial Services Growth
and
New Exclusivity Agreement
Belvoir Group PLC (AIM:BLV), the UK's largest property franchise, is pleased to provide the following update on the good progress being achieved within its financial services division, and to announce a new exclusivity agreement with Dacre, Son & Hartley Limited ("Dacres"), one of the north of England's largest independent estate agents.
Financial Services
In 2016 the Board identified financial services as a good means of diversification and a valuable additional revenue stream for both its franchisees and for the Group as a whole. At that time the Group had 13 financial advisers supporting around 20 of its Newton Fallowell offices operating under the Mortgage Advice Bureau ("MAB") umbrella and contributing £144,000 to the Group's 2016 gross profit.
Following the acquisition of Brook Financial Services Ltd ("Brook") in July 2017 and MAB (Gloucester) Ltd ("MAB Glos") in November 2018, the Belvoir Group now has 160 advisers operating across the North, the South West, the Midlands and Wales. In the ten months to October Belvoir's financial services division has written 7,961 mortgages, recruited net 37 advisers (up 30% from December 2018) and contributed £1.9 million of gross profit to the Group's performance.
The Board's strategic objective is to increase both its geographical coverage of financial services across the UK and its market share in existing territories. This will be achieved through the recruitment of additional financial services advisers to work with both independent estate agencies and our Group franchisees who will provide introductions to their clients.
New Exclusivity Agreement
Belvoir is delighted to announce that it has entered into an eight-year exclusivity agreement with Dacres, a 20 office estate agency network based in Yorkshire, to deliver financial services to their extensive client base. Belvoir believes that, with the right systems in place, the Dacres network could support an increase from its current four advisers to ten over the next two years. As a result, the agreement is expected to contribute around £100,000 to the Group's operating profit in its first full year of operation.
Dorian Gonsalves, CEO, commented;
"Our diversification into financial services is proving to be a real win-win for the Group with growth arising from working with both our networks and independent agents. We are really excited to be taking on the financial services for Dacres. Our financial services team based in Barnsley is well placed to support their network and is looking forward to working closely with their offices to build up the level of mortgage sales delivered to their clients."
Patrick McCutcheon, Residential MD of Dacres, commented;
"Following a strategic review of our financial services offering undertaken in the spring of this year, we identified the financial services arm of Belvoir Group PLC as being a service provider with whom we would be very keen to work. We believe that their management share our values on customer service and growth, and can deliver what we require to satisfy our own internal needs as well as those of our valued customers. We are looking forward to engaging fully and working with the Belvoir Group team to drive our mortgage proposition to even greater heights."
For further details:
Belvoir Group PLC Dorian Gonsalves, Chief Executive Officer Louise George, Chief Financial Officer www.belvoirgroup.com
| 01476 584900 investorrelations@belvoirgroup.com | |
finnCap Julian Blunt & Teddy Whiley (Corporate Finance) Tim Redfern (ECM) www.finncap.com
| +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 | |
Buchanan Charles Ryland, Victoria Hayns & Tilly Abraham | +44 (0) 20 7466 5000 | |
Notes for editors:
About Belvoir Group PLC
Founded in 1995 and listed on AIM in 2012 (BLV.L), Belvoir operates a nationwide property franchise group with 372 offices across four brands specialising in residential lettings, property management, residential sales and property-related financial services. With its Central Office in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the Group manages over 64,650 properties and reported record revenues of £13.7m in 2018 making Belvoir the largest property franchise group in the UK.
For further information, please visit: www.belvoirgroup.com