Former darling of stock market Foxtons sees shares fall to a new low

Foxtons’ shares reached a 52-week low on Tuesday at 85p.

The price was also the lowest since Foxtons floated on the London Stock Exchange four years ago.

Yesterday, the shares rose slightly in early trading to 87.5p but finished the day at 85.5p

The shares hit a 12-month high of 123p last November – a long way down from 284p in May 2015.

Foxtons floated on the stock market in September 2013, with shares at 230p.

It became an instant hit with investors, with shares soaring to over 278p that same day, pushing the market capitalisation to £790m.

Today, its market capitalisation is some £235m.

However, it is worth pointing out that unlike many in the sector, Foxtons is profitable and has no debt.

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4 Comments

  1. Hillofwad71

    Foxtons must be still feeling the effects on its reputation after being caught overcharging for repairs in their property  management department which is a large source of income  and feeds their  lettings register

     

    The SP s  suffering of course  because  of their  London -centric focus The current share price  still breaks down to a heady  £3m per leased branch  So little prospect of an MBO at that  level.The individuals who made Foxtons sing have long gone and now run by Directors with little stake in the business How do you reward the budding  Jon Hunts when the  equity  is held elsewhere ?

    At least they haven’t been paying big bucks gobbling up other agencies fuelled by debt like CWD  or indeed paying fancy prices for online offers like  The Property  Franchise group  only to see the  business drivers head off to the sunset  as the handcuffs are  lifted.CWD share price hit a new low yesterday too

    Staying on that note interesting to see TPFG  still have Bell Pottiger as their PR consultants whose reputation has been trashed due to their  unsavoury antics in S Africa .It says it all really

     

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  2. Moveaside01

    It’s a strange scenario really, the likes of Foxtons and Countrywide look like they’re suffering at the hands of internet agents such as PB. But in fact, it’s just current market conditions that’s really affecting the High Street Agents which won’t affect a company like PB, that doesn’t need to sell houses to perform well, strange times?

     

     

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    1. Hillofwad71

      I think CWD,s situation is different to Foxtons They are suffering  from the fact that they expanded by chequebook,buying turnover expensively which has now vanished

      At least Foxtons have expanded organically and incrementally by opening up new branches as business dictates Since they carry no debt they wont have  their bankers around their  neck like CWD monitoring every move

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  3. 40yearvetran08

    market cap at £235m based on current earnings of £3.8m for first 6 months of the year, assuming £7.6m for the year (probably lower)  I make that 31 times current earning’s. Surely the share price has a long way still to go down to reality. Oh I forgot reality does not play a part in stock market listings particularly where estate agents are concerned.

    But they are still making a profit which is better than the alternative, well they were upto June. The market is cyclical, always has been and always will, why these financial bods who run estate agent nowdays  do not seem to understand that never fails to surprise me, especially as they have a spreadsheet for everything we do. When the market is good they profess it is down to their skill and efforts, when it goes in the wrong direction they blame the staff. The fact that management has generally messed with the business and forever make changes which distance good staff they are unlikely to be in a strong position when the market comes back. Their argument will be, ‘what if the market never improves’. Whilst that is of course a possibility past trends say different. In the old days we would batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. It appears that is not the right solution anymore, give everyone a good kicking instead is a much better solution apparently, makes everyone feel wanted and willing to give their best for the cause.

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