Belvoir Lettings profit and revenue rise in first half

Belvoir Lettings posted a rise interim profit and revenue on Tuesday as its lettings, sales and financial services businesses continue to outperform the market.

In the six months to the end of June, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 23% to just under £3m as group revenue pushed up 48% to £9m. Lettings contributed 66% to gross profit, while financial services made up 19% and sales 15%.

Revenue in the financial services segment rose to £3.97m from £1.31m in the first half of last year as Belvoir benefited from the acquisition of MAB Gloucester last year.

The number of managed properties increased 6% to 64,650 and the company maintained its interim dividend at 3.4p a share.

Chief executive officer Dorian Gonsalves said: "I am delighted to report another half year of further strategic and trading progress for the group, with our diversification into financial services building on the growth of the underlying business. Trading across lettings, sales and financial services continues to outperform their respective markets and deliver strong results for the group.

"The further take-up of property sales, financial services and franchisee-led acquisitions demonstrates the entrepreneurial spirit of our franchisees in the face of even more challenging market conditions."

The company said it had seen a "promising" start to the second half and is on track to meet management expectations for the full year.

At 1340 BST, the shares were up 5.4% to 116.44p.