Foxtons shares have dropped nearly 8% since it faced allegations of sexual harassment and drink driving at work.

The fall in the group’s share price over the past month has taken place despite impressive end-of-year results released last week.

Analysts are predicting the company’s growth will slow down this year, but will still be ahead of many other large property firms.

Rocked

The agency was rocked by claims that female staff were victims of unwanted sexual advances by colleagues, and other employees drove cars while drunk.

There was a long list of allegations reported by Bloomberg and repeated by The Times, and the agency responded with a strongly-worded statement

Strong results

However, Foxtons reported good results, with profit before tax up 121% to £17.5 million, and group revenue up 11% to £163.9 million.

The London agency said there was growth in each area of its business, with lettings revenue up 5%, and sales jumping 31% “driven by double-digit market share gains”.

The adjusted operating profit was up 38% to £21.6 million last year and “trading year to date is in-line with our expectations”, Foxtons said.

Surprise acquisitions

Foxtons revealed in January that its sales pipeline was the best in nearly nine years, with the firm’s ‘under offer’ sales total at its highest since 2016.

Last week, it added around 600 lettings to its books by buying Watford independent agency Marshall Vizard.

This move came after surprise acquisitions for £12.6 million last October when it picked up Imagine Property Group in Watford and Haslams in Reading.