Savills accounts go into profit

  Savills yesterday reported pre-tax profits of £13.5m, turning round a loss of £7.7m in 2008.

However, the company reported a sizeable drop in underlying profits – much greater than those reported for accounting purposes as they take into account non-cash items.

The 24% drop in underlying pre-tax profits for 2009 comes despite its residential business in the UK turning in a strong performance.

Out of total underlying profits of £25.2m – down from £33.2m in 2008 – the UK residential division made £11.8m profits. The Asian business also did well, with profits of £6.8m. By contrast, its European business lost £9.6m and its losses in America were £3.9m.

Savills’ underlying profits were also helped by cost savings of £62m, helping to offset a 1.4% drop in revenue to £560.7m.

For Savills, 2009 was a year of two halves. In the weak first half, the company made an underlying profit of just £2.5m, but rallied in the much stronger second half to make £24.7m.

Chief executive Jeremy Helsby warned that market conditions remain unpredictable. He said: “We maintain a cautious stance and anticipate that our overall performance in 2010 will be similar to that of 2009, although the relative contributions of our individual businesses may be somewhat different.”