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Agencies & People

Good shepherds? Martin & Co reveals the figures behind EweMove

Revenues from franchisees increases significantly, but at a cost to group parent company PSG.

Nigel Lewis

ewemoveDetails of both how EweMove is performing within the Property Franchise Group (PSG) and the large sums of money spent by the group on the acquisition have been revealed within its interim results for the first half of the year.

This includes details that the two founders David Laycock and Glenn Ackroyd (pictured right) are to be paid £1m after their departure from the online agent in March, on top of their original £5m payment “in full and final settlement”.

The £1m is small change compared to what they would have received should the pair have stuck with it – PSG was due to pay them £7m this year if the online business had hit its targets.

EweMove was established in 2014 but was bought by Martin & Co, which is part of PSG, in September last year in a £15m deal. Its technology is now being rolled out across the group including within Whitegates, CJ Hole, Ellis & Co and Parkers Estate Agents.

PSG says revenues from EweMove from both the licence fees paid by franchisees and the completion fees paid on each transaction were £550,000 during the first six months of the year, up 35% on the same period last year.

New franchisees

In addition, PSG earned £200,000 from selling 18 new EweMove franchises during the period.

But the acquisition has comes with costs. The additional expenses of administering and financing the EweMove franchise system cost PSG an extra £1 million this year, offset only by a £300,000 reduction in staff costs within other parts of the business.

PSG has also revalued EweMove downwards by £500,000 as a business after receiving evidence that its value “may have been impaired,” the results say.

ian wilson martin & co“With the appointment of a new Managing Director for EweMove [Nick Neill, an existing Ewemove franchisee] and a new focus on recruiting experienced estate agents as EweMove’s local franchisees, management is confident of rapidly improving trading performance in this strategically important subsidiary,” says Ian Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of The Property Franchise Group (pictured, left).

 

September 14, 2017

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