EweMove is the country’s fifth largest online agency group based on transactions, and continues to make a profit according to its owner, The Property Franchise Group.
In a trading statement to shareholders this morning TPFG described EweMove as a "challenger" online brand, stating that it had 114 franchise territories as at the end of June this year.
The statement says EweMove’s focus “remains on recruiting experienced estate agents as franchisees” - this appears to contradict a statement from EweMove itself, made just earlier this week, that it was pleased to welcome franchisees who had no agency experience at all.
This morning’s statement added that EweMove offered customers “a … proposition which they are familiar with, namely no-sale-no-fee, building on our enviable TrustPilot [review website] reputation.”
EweMove’s franchisee income rose to £920,000 from £500,000 a year earlier, and the statement says that “the group has benefitted significantly from the cross-fertilisation of EweMove's digital expertise into the traditional brands.”
The rest of TPFG’s trading statement suggested a broadly successful first half of the year.
Revenue rose 17 per cent to £5.5m, compared to the same period of 2017, although pre-tax profit dipped slightly from £2.1m to £1.9m.
Operational highlights include a rise in the number of tenanted managed properties to 53,000 (up from 50,000 a year ago), plus the recruitment of 16 new franchisees and the opening of 15 new branches - taking the total network to 377, a slight drop on the previous year’s 383.
TPFG says it remains heavily weighted towards lettings, which accounts for 69 per cent of its fee income.
“Historically, the Group experiences stronger trading in the second half year, associated with heightened lettings activity in the period from June to September. We are seeing early indicators that this pattern will be maintained in 2018” explains Ian Wilson, chief executive officer of The Property Franchise Group.
“Thanks to our multi-brand strategy, strong balance sheet and robust cash flow we believe that we are well-positioned to outperform our competitors, increase market share and to deliver growth in value for all our stakeholders over the long term” he adds.
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I keep asking the question but what percentage of franchises are still trading with the original owner on the third anniversary?
Looking at the above stats your retention rate is something to be worked on.
Okay so you have 377 ‘Branches’
You state above in the last 12 months you ‘listed’ 4,053 properties
So each office is listing on average 10.75 properties a year.
Less than 1 per month.
Its a joke!
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