connells
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Latest property news
That’s loyalty! Connells Chairman celebrates 40 years with the company
A study of business leaders around the world recently found that the UK’s move on faster than in any other country apart from Brazil, Russian and India. The average tenure at the top is 4.8 years, down from 8.3 years seven years ago, the research by PwC revealed. No one has told the chairman of Connells Group, Stephen Shipperley (pictured, right), about this because this month he is celebrating his 40th anniversary with the company. “My own experience is testament to the emphasis that the company places on developing people within this business, giving those with potential the opportunities to advance and progress,” he says. “As a result, we have some of the best people in the industry and good people stay here. Most of our management, local, middle and senior, have been with the company 10, 20, 30 years.” Stephen joined the company as a Negotiator at its Aylesbury branch in 1977, twenty years before some of today’s younger trainees were born. He gave up the opportunity to go to university to join Connells direct from school and by 21 was a branch manager, helping the office become the most profitable in the company. By 1990, when he was…
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Movers & Shakers
Trevor Hill’s new role
Trevor Hill, who has, after over 35 years with the company, stepped down from his role as Land & New Homes Regional Director is to take a new consultancy position exclusively for Connells.
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Latest property news
NHBC: Latest new home registrations
Developers registered 40,000 new homes to be built in the UK during Q2 2017, according to NHBC’s latest new home registration statistics.
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Latest property news
Sequence buys up its second independent agent in four weeks
Connells subsidiary Sequence has begun an aggressive push to buy up independent agents and has announced its second purchase this month via its main high street brand, William H Brown. Following the purchase of Enfield, North London agent Barnfields at the beginning of August, William H Brown has now bought a second agent, Cory & Co in the Essex port town of Harwich (pictured, right). Like Barnfields, Cory & Co is an independent family-run agency but unlike it, Cory & Co’s founder is retiring and the business is being absorbed into the local William H Brown branch. Norman Cory (pictured, left) established Cory & Co in 1981 trading in the Harwich, Dovercourt and surrounding villages and is also a leading light in the local town and keen Rotarian. William H Brown will transfer its lettings, property management and remaining sales deals into its existing branch along with three members of staff. Sequence “This acquisition strengthens our position in the local market and fits our targeted approach of building our managed property portfolio,” says Mike Rowley, Acquisitions Director for Sequence (pictured, right). “There is huge demand for rental property in Harwich and its surrounding areas and we’re looking forward to welcoming…
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Latest property news
Connells says sales market picking up as it reveals increased profits
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…
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Latest property news
Hatched founder joins easyProperty as Head of Operations
Adam Day, the founder of online estate agency Hatched.co.uk has joined easyProperty.com as its Head of Operations, just 15 months after Hatched was bought by Connells. On his Linkedin profile Adam lists himself as “taking a break” in between leaving Hatched earlier this month and joining easyProperty, although in December last year Adam was on a recruitment for more Hatched agents, saying it was an “exciting time to join our business as we continue to build on the successes of previous years”. Adam (pictured, right) has joined easyProperty to set up the systems and procedures that will transform the website from an exclusively consumer-facing operation into the geographically licensed B2B offering that easyProperty CEO Jon Cooke describes as “the convergence of high street agency with online sales and lettings”. And Adam has his work cut out – easyProperty expects to relaunch in September this year. £60m deal with GPEA Adam’s arrival at easyProperty follows the £60m deal between the Guild of Professional Estate Agents and easyProperty to merge earlier this month and that 270-plus GPEA members have signed up so far to be easyProperty licensees out of a potential pool of 800. In return for a fee, easyProperty is licensing…
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Latest property news
OnTheMarket wins claim against Gascoigne Halman in long-awaited tribunal decision
OnTheMarket has won the Competition Appeal Tribunal case it brought against Gascoigne Halman after the agent, following its acquisition in October 2015 by Connells, refused to abide by OnTheMarket’s ‘one other portal rule’. After the ruling OnTheMarket Chief Executive Ian Springett (pictured, below) accused Zoopla of funding the action, and also said that he intended to recoup legal and other court costs from Gascoigne Halman, particularly so because “the manner in which our opponents conducted the case has caused us to divert considerable resources and management time”. Gascoigne Halman said during the hearings that its contract with OnTheMarket was in effect void because what it believed are restrictive clauses within it were in breach of Section 2 of the Competition Act 1988. These include the ‘one other portal rule’ which requires participating agents to only use two property portals, the ‘bricks and mortar rule’ prohibiting online agents from joining OnTheMarket, and the ‘exclusive promotion rule’ that prevents agents from promoting their membership of Rightmove or Zoopla. The legal process was triggered when Gascoigne Halman listed its properties on all three property portals in defiance of OnTheMarket. OnThemarket subsequently sought a judgement on the matter through the tribunal system to prove…
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Latest property news
First-time buyer frenzy
First-time buyer activity rose to 36 per cent of market activity in February...
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Latest property news
Connells Group pre-tax profits rise, helped by £17m ZPG shares sale
Agent giant Connells Group has today reported a strong performance for 2016 including pre-tax profits of £73.4 million, an increase of 17.4% on the year before. This includes £17 million gained from selling some of its shares in ZPG Plc last year. Until then Connells Group had been one of ZPG’s top ten major shareholders with 16.73 million shares held, a million less than Countrywide – the two were part of a trio of agents including LSL to sign strategic partnerships with what was then just Zoopla in 2010. But Connells Group is doing well even with the ZPG windfall taken out. The group, which includes Connells and William H Brown, Barnard Marcus and Peter Alan, says it sold 8% more properties last year, 5% more new homes, generated 44% more income from its land division and 19% more cash via its new homes team. Other indicators twitching wildly include those at its mortgage arranging business where income rose 18% based on a lending total of £8.2 billion and 10% more mortgages arranged. There were also rises in income for its conveyancing and survey and valuation businesses. “All parts of the business delivered a strong performance and, considered alongside the…
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Latest property news
As Connells’ new homes and mortgages businesses boom, what’s its magic formula?
Connells appears to have blown the Brexit cobwebs off its business following two key announcements. The company says that last year its network of offices, which includes Connells and Sequence branded branches, recorded a six per cent rise in new homes instructions and a five per cent increase in exchanges compared to 2015. It also says its 40-strong land team has increased returns from its land department by a third in 2016 and that it is optimistic about this year. “The fundamentals of the market remain strong – there is continued appetite for land to meet the demand for new homes, a pro housebuilding and pro homeownership Government in place, buyer incentives and good, competitive finance available,” says Connells Group Land Director Roger Barrett (pictured, left). “This, alongside the steady growth in new homes supply from national, regional and local house builders, will see a buoyant market where we will experience further growth in the total number of new homes sales in 2017.” It’s mortgage business has also been doing well and in 2016 recorded a 10% increase in the number of mortgages its arranged for customers compared to 2015, generating a loan book of £10.3 billion. One surprising figures from…
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