Savills has reported a 13% rise in revenue to £1.4bn in 2016, with strong European and Asian markets offsetting slower growth in the UK.
UK revenue grew 3% to £538m, largely on the back of the property and facilities management side of the business, where revenue rose 19% following the acquisition of Smiths Gore in May 2015 and GBR Phoenix Beard in August 2016. Excluding those deals, it saw 9% growth.
In transactions, however, the UK residential business declined by 3% to £124.4m and UK commercial revenue fell 13% to £86m. Savills said it was a “resilient performance” in the context of commercial property volumes declining 28% in 2016.
It added that with a large portion of UK commercial stock sold to overseas investors in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, regions where Savills has a strong presence, it was able to increase its market share of UK commercial acquisition advisers.
By contrast, revenue rose by 31% in continental Europe and 21% in Asia Pacific. In Europe, it saw the most growth in Germany, France and the Netherlands while transactions in Ireland fell. Savills also expanded its teams in Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Belgium.
Jeremy Helsby, group chief executive at Savills, said: “Overall, Savills delivered another record performance in 2016 despite the geopolitical distractions in some of our markets. We benefited from the scale of our operations across the globe, which have grown substantially over recent years, as well as a highly resilient performance in the UK.
“Savills is a strong and diverse global firm and we continue to look at opportunities to develop our business. We have started the year well and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged.”
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