6^th September 2017

THE PROPERTY FRANCHISE GROUP PLC

(the "Company" or the "Group") 

Trading Update

The Property Franchise Group Plc today announces that trading for the first six months ended 30 June 2017 has been encouraging.  Revenue for the period was approximately £4.7m and profit before tax was approximately £2.1m including exceptional items.

Our traditional high street brand businesses have continued to perform well with revenue up 4% year-on-year to £3.8m and profits up 22% to £2.0m. 

The disruption caused by the early departure of the EweMove co-founders on 30^th June 2017, as announced on 29^th March 2017, has meant that EweMove's trading position is behind management expectations with (unaudited) losses for EweMove at the half year to 30^th June 2017 of £0.3m against a target loss of £0.1m, on revenues of £0.9m.  As a result, the management expects underlying profits for the full year for the Group to be below market expectations.

The Board remains committed to EweMove, which it believes continues to offer significant growth prospects in the medium term.  EweMove has over 100 franchisees and the Group's strategy remains to scale the business over the next 2 years.  The business recruited 18 new franchisees in the first six months of 2017 and Management Services Fees revenue is up 35% year-on-year to £0.6m.

The Group will announce its interim results on 14^th September 2017.

Ends

This announcement contains inside information.

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About The Property Franchise Group  

The Property Franchise Group operates one of the UK's largest property franchise businesses through over 370 offices and six franchise brands: Martin & Co, CJ Hole, Parkers, Ellis & Co, EweMove and Whitegates.

The Group added an estate agency service in 2012 and franchisees currently manage 49,000 properties on behalf of private clients.  In 2016 the Group acquired EweMove, a "hybrid" online estate agency franchisor.

The Group is a multiple award winning business and the Directors and senior management have over 100 years of combined residential letting and estate agency experience.

http://www.propertyfranchise.co.uk/