Martin & Co parent company now No.2 lettings player in UK, latest results show

Martin & Co parent company TPFG and Hunters have announced their first joint results, revealing that the combined companies are now the No.2 player in the lettings market with 73,000 properties under management, and the largest franchised estate agency operator.

In lettings this puts it just behind another merged entity, Connells and Countrywide, which has at least 90,000 properties under management between them.

It is also now larger than its key rival Belvoir, which has fewer branches and properties under management.

The TPFG/Hunters trading update for the 2020 year end, which comes just a few days after TPFG acquired Hunters for £24 million, also reveals that both companies increased their revenues from franchisors last year despite the pandemic lockdown.

But the results show that the two companies, which employ similar business models, are different in several key ways.

Average branch revenue at TPFG is £333,000 a year compared with Hunters’ £207,000, although Hunters was still growing compared to a relatively static TPFG last year.

For example, Hunters increased its tenanted properties by 1,000 to 15,000 during 2020, while TPFG’s remained static at 58,000.

But both companies enjoyed extraordinary recovering from Covid in their property sales – TPFG saw its sales agreed pipeline double by the end of the year, while Hunters pipeline was up by 80%.

“I am very pleased to be announcing strong results in 2020 delivered by both The Property Franchise Group and Hunters,” says Gareth Samples, TPFG’s CEO (left).

“Both companies have demonstrated their strength and agility under rapidly changing circumstances, progressing financially and operationally in the year. We are confident that bringing a strong, growing business into the Group will supercharge our expansion plans, delivering great value for both our shareholders and our franchisees.”

Read our exclusive interview with both company’s chiefs.