Foxtons FY profit, revenue fall as Brexit vote, stamp duty weigh
Foxtons Group's full-year pretax profit has more than halved, while revenue dived in part thanks to the effects of post-Brexit sluggishness.
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"We expect trading conditions to remain challenging throughout 2017. Should current sales activity continue through the remainder of this year, it is likely that 2017 sales volumes will be below last year," warned chief executive Nic Budden.
At 12:59 GMT, shares in Foxtons were flat at 98.25p each.
The London-focused estate agent said pre-tax profit for the period was £18.8m, down from £41.0m, while revenue eased to £132.7m, from £149.8m.
Full-year dividend was 2.0p a share, from 5.01p. The comparative period also included a 5.99p special dividend, which was not repeated in the just-finished year.
Referring to its markedly lower revenue, Foxtons said that achieved from lettings was £68.3m, down 1% on the year.
However, sales revenue of £55.5m was down 23%, this driven by a marked step down in activity in the second half following the EU referendum and stamp-duty changes.
Budden said last year's London property market was severely impacted by an unprecedented sequence of events with changes to stamp duty and the EU referendum vote.
This led to a substantial fall in property sales deals, especially in Central London, which "remains tough" as a market.