Estate agency group Connells has revealed a ‘stable’ first six month of the year with revenue up by 4% and profits before tax increasing by £200,000 to £31.5 million.

Its half year results have been described by the business as “consistently strong” despite the subdued sales market during the opening months of the year, although Connells says it recorded an up-tick in instructions during June and says there is a more positive outlook for the rest of the summer.

“We enter the second half of the year with a noticeably higher pipeline compared to last year and, with the imbalance between demand and supply still the key market feature, our outlook for the rest of the year remains positive,” says Group CEO David Livesey (pictured, left).

“The noticeable cooling in the market, as a result of uncertainty “Our performance signals Connells Group’s strength in what has undoubtedly been an unsettled marketplace,” surrounding the Brexit negotiations, was further compounded by the snap general election which did little to boost consumer sentiment.

Our breadth of business brought resilience, allowed us to gain market share and consolidate our position as the UK’s most profitable estate agency group.”

Connells Group says its 4% increase in turnover came despite a 3% decrease in the number of house sales across its 600 branches across various brands, and that its more recently-developed lettings offering increased its revenue by 14.5% from January to June this year, while revenues from its mortgage selling business increased by 11.8%.

Its survey and valuations operation also enjoyed increasing revenues, up by 4.5%.

Connells also now has an additional head office building in Dunstable on top of its existing four buildings in Leighton Buzzard, and has opened several branches recently.