Last checked at 11 May 2016 10:31
11 May 2016
SAVILLS PLC
("Savills" or "the Company")
AGM Statement
Savills plc, the international real estate advisor, is today holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 12 noon, at 33 Margaret Street, London, W1G 0JD, and provides the following AGM statement.
During the year to date Savills has traded in line with the Board's expectations.
In the UK commercial markets, Savills has continued to maintain a significant share of the Prime UK investment and leasing markets although market activity has decreased in the run up to the forthcoming Referendum on EU Membership.
The UK Prime Residential market has performed better than our expectations, boosted by a spike in activity in advance of the Stamp Duty increase last month. Since then, the volume of activity has moderated, as we anticipated, in advance of the Referendum.
In Asia Pacific, we have traded in line with our expectations with Hong Kong and China having started the year well, offsetting slower activity in Japan.
In the US, although the market volume of investment transactions has reduced partly through uncertainty over the political outlook, Savills Studley's predominantly occupier-related business has traded marginally ahead of our expectations and continued its expansion programme principally through recruitment. In addition, we have continued to assess several small "bolt-on" acquisition opportunities and expect a number of these to complete over the next six months.
In Continental Europe, we have traded in line with our expectations, with strong performances in Ireland, France, Sweden and the Netherlands, although current volumes are also being affected by the uncertainty surrounding "Brexit".
Globally, our Consultancy and Property Management businesses have delivered continued revenue growth with particular strengths in the UK and Asia.
Savills Investment Management has grown in line with our expectations with the integration of the SEB acquisition proceeding well.
While we have started the year well, typically the first four months represent a disproportionately small element of the expected outturn for the full year. We have continued to develop the business with selective acquisitions and recruitments in a number of our service lines and are focused on integrating these through the remainder of the year.
Although certain markets are currently being affected by the forthcoming EU referendum and US Election, currently our expectations for the year remain unchanged.
For further information, contact:
Savills 020 7409 8934
Jeremy Helsby, Group Chief Executive
Simon Shaw, Group Chief Financial Officer
Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200
Peter Hewer