The arm, which comprises residential and commercial broker, Savills Private Finance, and corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions advice provider, Savills Capital Advisors, posted a profit of almost £500,000 for its full 2008 results, compared to £5m in 2007. It attributed the drop to the extreme contraction of UK lending markets.

Overall, the group reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £2.5m following adjustments for share based payments.

Jeremy Helsby, group chief executive of Savills, pointed out that to generate a profit was testament to the diversification of the business and the quality and determination of its teams around the world.

He added: “Although there have been some recent signs of improvement in some areas of UK Residential and the Asia Pacific regions, property markets generally are still suffering from a lack of debt finance, shortage of quality product and concerns over the impact of recession upon occupiers.”

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