Belvoir Group shares rose 3% to 263p as the company reported the 25th year of unhindered profit growth in its latest financial results.
A REIT, Belvoir Group noted a 39% increase in pre-tax profit from £6.7m to £9.3m in 2021 with strong growth in revenue.
The group revenues increase 37% to £29.6m from £21.7m in 2020 as a result of growth in the group’s underlying business and acquisitions of Nicholas Humphreys and Nottingham Mortgage Services.
During the year, corporate acquisitions and disposals added a net of £1.8m to the revenue which climbed £6.1 million on a like-for-like basis. In an attempt to expand the company’s property and financial services networks, Belvoir acquired Nicholas Humphreys and Nottingham Mortgage Services in 2021. Nottingham Mortgage Services added £0.5m to the revenue in the last five months of 2021.
Acquisition and organic growth contributed to the rise in revenue in the financial services division which increased by £4.7m to £14.4m in 2021.
The property division increased the group’s revenue by £3.2m with the property division’s revenue summing up to £15.2m in 2021.
The acquisition of White Kite Group 202, which operates under the name Nicholas Humphreys, increased revenues by £2.1m.
Meanwhile, between August 2020 and January 2021, the projected franchising of five Lovelle corporate-owned offices lowered revenue by £0.8m.
Management service fees (MSF) increased 18% to £10.7 million, with £0.3 million coming from the 17 Nicholas Humphreys franchise offices and five newly franchised Lovelle locations. The £1.6m rise came from a £0.7m increase in lettings MSF and a £0.9m increase in property sales.
In 2021, Belvoir increased house sales by 54% to 12,320 homes, opened 45 new offices and managed a portfolio of 72,900 properties.
Belvoir noted an increase in year-end cash to £7.4m compared to £5.9m in 2020 whilst reporting a 65% decrease in net debt to £1.3m.
The group’s total dividend increased by 18% to 8.5p compared to 7.2p in 2020, with a final dividend of 4.5p in 2021. Belvoir’s dividend cover is 2.3x according to the company.
Dorian Gonsalves, Chief Executive Officer, Belvoir said, “2021 was the busiest year for our sector in recent times with residential property sales transactions at their highest level since 2007, which boosted both our growing estate agency and financial services businesses.”
“We worked closely with our property franchisees and financial services advisers to ensure that they were best placed to respond to the strong market conditions, which drove significant organic growth of 25%.”
“Adding the national Nicholas Humphreys franchise network to the Group has enabled us to extend our professional lettings service to encompass the specialist student lettings market.”
“We also further strengthened our strategic alliance with the Nottingham Building Society, through the acquisition of its mortgage advisory arm, giving us access to its online savers who we hope will be our future mortgage clients.”
Belvoir shares gained 2% to 260p following the company’s robust revenue growth and continued increase in profits.