Foxtons reports big drop in profits and revenue with ...

Foxtons has this morning given details of a sharp fall in both profits and revenue, wirth sales significantly falling away and even income from lettings dipping slightly.

The report says Foxtons’ performance for the year was in line with its expectations.

Group revenue in 2017 was circa £117m (down from 2016‘s £133m), with revenue for the quarter just ended on December 31 or around £24m (2016: £26m).

Adjusted EBITDA for the full year is expected to be approximately £15m - around £10m down on the £24.6m recorded in 2016.

However, the company says its balance sheet is strong with no debt.

It says the reduction in revenue in 2017 compared to the year before was driven mainly by the significant fall in sales volumes in the first quarter of 2017 - the same period of 2016 had witnessed a surge in transactions ahead of the introduction of the stamp duty surcharge for buy to let properties and second homes.

In detail, sales revenue for 2017 was £42m (2016: £55m). Sales revenue in the final quarter of 2017 was circa £10m (2016: £12m).

The lettings business was more stable although also showed a modest drop.

Lettings revenue for 2017 was circa £66m (2016: £68m) driven, says the company, “by the impact of downward pressure on rents across the market throughout the year.”

In the final quarter of 2017, lettings revenue was circa £12m (2016: £13m).

Alexander Hall mortgage broking revenue was circa £9m for 2017, and was broadly in line with the prior year.

"This was a solid performance in the context of ongoing challenging conditions in the London property market”claims Nic Budden, Foxtons’ chief executive.

“Looking ahead, we expect trading conditions to remain challenging throughout 2018. We are well placed to withstand these conditions due to our strong balance sheet with no debt, and we will provide an update on a number of strategic initiatives which we have been working on at our preliminary results presentation on February 28" he concludes.