Results for the half year ended 30 June 2017

Key Financial Information

• Group revenue up 15% (7% in constant currency*) to £714.4m (H1 2016: £622.7m)
• Group underlying profit** before tax up 12% (5% in constant currency) to £48.1m (H1 2016: £42.8m)
• Group profit before tax up 27% to £32.4m (H1 2016: £25.5m)
• Underlying basic earnings per share up 18% to 25.7p (H1 2016: 21.8p)
• Basic earnings per share up 39% to 16.1p (H1 2016: 11.6p)
• Interim dividend increased 6% to 4.65p per share (H1 2016: 4.4p)

* Revenue and underlying profit for the period are translated at the prior period exchange rates to provide a constant currency comparative. ** Underlying profit before tax (‘underlying profit’) is calculated on a consistently reported basis in accordance with Note 3 to the Interim Financial Statements.

Highlights

• Transaction Advisory revenue up 15%, reflecting strong performances in Asia, Europe and  the UK Commercial market offsetting a slight decline in UK Residential revenue. 
• Property Management revenue up 13%, Consultancy revenue up 15%.
• Continued expansion in Europe and North America, through bolt-on acquisitions and recruitment.
• Savills Investment Management revenue up 22%.

Commenting on the results, Jeremy Helsby, Group Chief Executive of Savills plc, said:

“Savills has delivered a great first half performance across the Group driven, in particular, by strong growth in Asia and a resilient performance in the UK.

In line with our overall growth strategy, we have continued to build on the Savills Studley platform in the US, particularly our Capital Markets business, with recruitment and incremental acquisition activity across the country. In addition, we have continued to invest in our Asian platform and, since the period end, in Europe we have announced the acquisitions of Larry Smith and Aguirre Newman, further strengthening our positions in Italy and Spain respectively.

Continued growth in our less transactional businesses, significant overseas earnings and strong market shares in many of our most important transactional locations position the Group to withstand short term reductions in local activity and to capitalise on the opportunities which we expect to emerge.

In an environment of ongoing political and economic uncertainty, we continue to anticipate that our performance for the full year will be in line with the Board’s expectations.”

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