Martin & Co
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Latest property news
Martin & Co. Bedford branch franchise has new owners
The Bedford branch of Martin & Co. has new owners who have extensive experience in retail and commercial banking.
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Latest property news
Rising revenues at EweMove help TPFG boost profits by 29% this year
While many large estate agency firms are licking their wounds as the property market softens, Martin & Co parent company The Property Franchise Group (TPFG) has today released an extraordinarily upbeat set of figures including profits up by 29% to £2.3 million. This includes increased market share for the company’s hybrid agency EweMove which now has 114 territory franchisee holders, is the 5th largest in its sector and unlike many competitors is trading profitably. Ewemove’s franchisee income increase to £920,000 from £500,000 last year although the hybrid has been struggling to recruit new franchisees so far this year, signing up 12 compared to 18 during the first six months of 2017. Hybrid agency Figures from the hybrid agency also suggest why; experienced estate agents pay £2,000 to join while non-industry applicants are charge £20,000. EweMove has recruited fewer of the former so far this year. At TPFG, all the dials have been rising including both revenue and service fees from its franchisees, operating margin, profits, number of franchisees and lettings book. This includes turnover up by 17% to £5.5 million, franchisee royalties by 15% and the number of rental properties managed by 6% to 53,000. TPFG operates six property brands…
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TPFG kicks off huge property portfolio land grab
The Property Franchise Group is acquired 3,000 properties via 16 property portfolio acquisitions it helped franchisees complete so far this year.
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Martin & Co franchisees rebrand in Gloucester
Peter and Rani Grieves took on RMC Hardcastles at the end of last year, their fourth acquisition...
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‘Clumsy’ lettings reforms will persuade more independents to sell, says Martin & Co boss
Franchised lettings giant Martin & Co says the looming lettings reforms announced last weekend is going to make it harder to stay in the game for many agents, and suggests many are considering selling up. The extra red tape, the government announced, will include mandatory training for agents, a compulsory code of conduct, a new regulator and a major overhaul of leasehold ownership. Ian Wilson (left), who is CEO of Martin & Co’s parent company The Property Franchise Group (TPFG), says: “The Government’s announcements at the weekend, although welcome and well-meaning, will probably be clumsily executed. “It’s going to be a lot of work to stay in the lettings game, so potential sellers should think hard about their best option”. TPFG is also helping its franchisees with finance to buy up independent rivals, Ian says, with “a well-oiled machine, and access to cash”. Examples this week of Martin & Co franchisees buying up local independent competition include purchases in Runcorn, Cheshire; Grantham, Lincolnshire; and Horsham, East Sussex. In Runcorn two local Martin & Co franchisees joined forces to buy TCG Residential, whose owner wanted a quick sale so that he could finance a round-the-world motorbike trip. And in Grantham, franchisee…
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OnTheMarket founding agent Chestertons signs with ZPG
Chestertons, one of the founding agents of property portal OnTheMarket (OTM) and one of London’s largest branch networks, has returned to Zoopla after a three-year hiatus. Its 32 branches have started listing on ZPG’s two websites with immediate effect as well as continuing to appear on Rightmove and OTM. A spokesperson from OnTheMarket said: “”Chestertons remains a valued and supportive estate agent customer of, and shareholder in, OnTheMarket and indeed has recently chosen to sign a new 5-year listing agreement with us.” Chestertons is one of a growing number of agents now listing on all three platforms after OTM lifted its ‘one other portal rule’ following its listing on the AIM stock market. “We’re excited to be returning to ZPG and having all of Chestertons properties listed on all four of the UK’s main property websites, which will benefit both our customers and our business,” says Allan Collins, CEO of Chestertons. The company, which founded OTM alongside several other high-profile agents including Knight Frank and Savills, is not the only agent to have signed up with or returned to ZPG recently. The portal says a flurry of branches have signed a listings agreement with it in recent weeks including eight…
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Hunters opened 37 branches during 2017 and increased income by nearly 10%, results reveal
Franchise sales and lettings group Hunters says it outperformed the market during 2017 and increased its income by 9.8% to £38.9m, up from £35.4m in 2016, despite the “well-documented challenging conditions in the UK”. Today’s results come from its latest trading update to the City and includes details of its aggressive expansion, which included 37 new branch openings last year, taking it to a total of 213 branches. Like its competitors Martin & Co, EweMove and Belvoir, Hunters is hoping the choppy trading conditions within the UK property market at the moment will persuade more independent agents to seek safe anchorage in its branded franchise network. Cost reductions “Market conditions will continue to encourage independent operators to be part of a stronger group that can also offer significant cost reductions, particularly in terms of portal charges for Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket,” its update says. “We are already seeing an improved level of enquiries from high quality independent businesses. Our financial strength will enable us to both expand our network and reward shareholders with an attractive dividend.” In December last year Hunters began listing its properties centrally via OnTheMarket.com, rather than leaving it to individual franchisees. The City would seem to…
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‘Only strong letting agents will survive fees ban’
Not many letting agents can say they have been able to buy up three rivals within three years of establishing their business from scratch. But that is what Angela Newark can claim after revealing today that she has bought the property management portfolio of sales and now former letting agent Martin Lonsdale in Saltaire, West Yorkshire, taking her managed stock to over 800 properties. In 2014 she cold-started a Martin & Co franchised branch in Saltaire but then bought rival Village Estates in 2015 and then the Keighley office of Whitegates in 2016 (pictured, below), also part of the Martin & Co family. Letting agents “I’m a beneficiary of the multi-brand strategy of The Property Franchise Group as I trade both as Whitegates and Martin & Co,” she says. “Central office assisted me with the acquisitions and I’m looking at other businesses currently. I know agents are worried about the tenant fee ban, but the strong will survive, and my business is now set for further growth in 2018”, said Angela. The Property Franchise Group owns six franchised lettings brands including Martin & Co, EweMove, CJ Hole, Ellis & Co, Parkers and Whitegates and operation nearly 300 branches. The detail of the tenant fees ban…
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It’s over! Belvoir pulls out of merger attempt with Martin & Co parent company
Franchise letting agency giant Belvoir has ended its attempted takeover bid for rival The Property Franchise Group (TPFG), parent company of Martin & Co and five other brands including hybrid agency EweMove. Belvoir today announced that it was ending its attempts to persuade TPFG shareholders to back Belvoir’s attempts to buy TFPF and merge the two businesses. Despite having considerable goodwill, Belvoir has admitted that without the support of the key TPFG directors and their share-owning backers a deal would be difficult, if not impossible. Belvoir’s statement confirming the withdrawal of the merger offer says: “The Belvoir board is disappointed that the TPFG board has declined to enter into a dialogue, not least given that the board itself has recognised the scale that would be achieved in combining the two businesses, and moreover, given a number of common institutional shareholders have publicly stated their support, in principle, for a dialogue between the boards of Belvoir and TPFG with regard to the Possible Merger Offer”. End of the bid The end of the bid to merge the two businesses has been prompted by the timetable that companies entering into a takeover must stick to, as set out in the City Code…
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What went wrong? Belvoir reveals merger with TPFG DID have green light
Belvoir has responded to the brush-off delivered by The Property Franchise Group (TPFG) on 19th October which said the merger of the two businesses “would not be in the best interests” of TPFG. TPFG owns franchised lettings giant Martin & Co and online agency EweMove as well as CJ Hole, Ellis & Co, Parkers and Whitegates with a combined branch count of almost 300 and 50,000 tenanted properties. The board of directors at Belvoir says it is “disappointed” by the response and that the merger offer made by Belvoir was not an unsolicited one. Also, reading in between the lines of the statement, TPFG appears to have led Belvoir to believe the merger offer would be well received. Belvoir merger with TPFG Belvoir says there was previously a “willingness to engage in discussions expressed to the Board on more than one occasion by TPFG”. The company says its merger offer was structured to reflect these discussions, which included issuing 0.7150 new shares per TPFG share and 52.2p in cash per TPFG share, but says the cash element of the offer could be reduced and the number of shares increased to reduce the cost of the merger. Belvoir also says it…
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