Belvoir spent £200,000 on its abortive attempt late last year to merge with rival The Property Franchise Group (TPFG), it has been revealed.

The considerable sum of money was spent on legal fees, its annual results for 2017 highlight, along with other extraordinary costs totalling £300,000.

This includes the legal bill for a recent restructure at Northwood, the franchised agency it bought in 2016 for £22 million.

In November last year Belvoir made overtures to TPFG and, after saying it received a positive response from TPFG’s board, made a bid to merge the two businesses.

But the TPFG board later rebuffed Belvoir saying a merger “would not be in the best interests” of the company, which operates Martin & Co and several other key UK agency brands, including Ewemove.

Good year

Despite this setback, Belvoir says 2017 was a good year for the group during which it helped 23 franchisees buy up local competitors, pushing the number of properties its branches manage to 58,020.

The payments it receives from franchisees increased by 23% to £7.9 million, 80% of which came from lettings. Group profits before tax increased by 62% to £3.9 million.

“We are pleased to report another year of strong growth for the Group, in terms of both revenues and profitability,” says Belvoir CEO Dorian Gonsalves (pictured, left).

“Our franchisees, who are mostly owner-operators, have continued to grow organically, through diversification and by making local portfolio acquisitions.

“Our franchisees are incredibly motivated to find ways to grow and develop their business and this dynamism, combined with local property expertise, underpins our continued successful growth.”