Mortgage News
LSL reports £6.5m operating profit and slashes debt
LSL Property Services, a residential property services provider, has reported pre-tax H1 group profits of £6.5m, but cut net debt down from £14.3m to 8.1m to June this year.
LSL’s profit before tax figures fell to £6.5m from £19.7m in 2010, including £13.4m in costs following the acquisition of Halifax Estate Agencies.
LSL chairman, Roger Matthews, said: “Against the backdrop of an ongoing challenging housing market, we have continued to strengthen our market positions and drive new revenue streams in both estate agency and surveying. As a result, the Board remains confident of delivering further progress in 2011, a confidence that is reflected in our decision to announce a 12% increase in the interim dividend payment to 2.8p per share.”
On the estate agency side, LSL increased market share from 4 to 4.5% year-on-year and made an operating profit of £600,000, up from a loss of £600,000 in 2010.
Group revenue increased by 2% on 2010 to £103.4m, but underlying group operating profit fell by 11.8% to £11.8m after the planned investment in estate agency.
LSL said the revenue growth can be attributed to the improved contribution from lettings, which grew 19% to £13.6m.
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The chairman said: “Our surveying division has delivered a robust performance despite a further contraction in the market from what were already historically low levels…we expect activity levels to pick up in the second half of the year against the comparative.”