Earlier this week Winkworth announced a positive set of results for 2019 despite continued political uncertainty during the year and a good trading start to 2020 prior to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Winkworth reported an 8% increase in transactions in 2019, with their country offices up 15% and offices in the Capital up 2%. In London, Winkworth ranked second in Sales Subject to Contract with a 4.2% market share, up from 3.6% in 2018.
Group sales revenue rose 2% during the year, bolstered by the Winkworth country offices whose revenue grew 16%.
Despite the tenant fee ban coming into force in June 2019, Winkworth saw a 6% increase in lettings revenue across the group, with country offices revenue up 16% and London offices up 4%. Property management revenue rose 12% overall and now represents 20% of total gross revenues. Lettings and property management makes up 51% of group income for the year, up 1% from 2018.
Overall, the franchise office network revenue grew 4% to £48.3 million with London offices making up 78% of group revenue.
2019 was a steady year for the new franchising department who continued to welcome new franchisees to the network. Three new offices were opened in Leigh on sea, Essex, Southwold in East Suffolk and Forest Hill in South East London. Three offices were also sold to new management in Surbiton, South London, Tunbridge Wells in Kent and Southbourne in Dorset.
“In 2019, we recorded another good set of results against testing market conditions and are proud of the strength of our brand and the balance in our business between sales and rentals,” comments Winkworth CEO, Dominic Agace. “We are now waiting to see how great an impact the coronavirus crisis will have on the current year’s trading and doing all we can to safeguard our franchisees, customers and employees. The long-term fundamentals for the housing market remain in place and with a strong financial position and a proven, defensive model, we are well placed to withstand this fast-moving situation.”
Winkworth declared and paid an increased final dividend of 7.8p in 2019 and has a strong cash balance with no debt.
For further details and full results please see the Annual Reports and Results page of Winkworth’s parent company, M Winkworth PLC.