Savills has reported “extraordinarily strong” trading over the past year, and said performance will be “very significantly ahead of expectations”.
In a year-end trading statement, published this morning, the agency said the UK and Asia Pacific regions had led the way, while Continental Europe and the Americas had “more than eliminated” their losses of 2020.
It added: “All Savills businesses have exceeded their forecasts, notwithstanding the impact of renewed pandemic-related restrictions in many locations. In particular, commercial capital transactions and prime residential agency experienced much stronger completion volumes than previously anticipated. Our less transactional businesses have also outperformed their previous expectations.”
Coupled with the strong performance were “abnormally low levels of discretionary expenditure” over the year.
As a result, Savills said, “The group expects underlying profit before tax for 2021 to be very significantly ahead of the upper end of its previous range of expectations.”
The UK business performed “exceptionally well” across all business lines, even though commercial office leasing volumes remained below historic averages in most markets. The firm’s strengths in logistics and retail warehousing, which both saw significant volume increases year-on-year, contributed to Savills’ outperformance, as did the strong performance of the UK prime residential market.
Savills, which intends to report 2021 full-year results on 10 March 2022, said it expected 2022 to normalise as inflationary pressures hike up employment costs and discretionary costs rose.
To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews
