In a full-year trading update, LSL confirmed that as a result the total number of financial advisers in the group has risen by three per cent, to around 2,380.
Within LSL’s financial services division, revenue growth stood at one per cent for the year when excluding its estate agency work. However, when that was included its revenues fell over the year by two per cent, which the firm said was the result of the planned closure of the Your Move and Reeds Rains branches.
Things were more positive in the surveying division, which saw revenues jump by 24 per cent over the year. This included a “material contribution” from the successful start of the firm’s surveying and valuation services tie-up with Lloyds Bank.
Overall, LSL noted that its group revenues for the year had fallen by four per cent, though when excluding the impact of the planned closure of the Your Move and Reeds Rains branches, its group revenues rose four per cent.
It added that its underlying operating profit for the year “will be slightly ahead of the board’s prior expectations and slightly ahead of last year” which it described as a “resilient performance” in challenging conditions.
