The Property Franchise Group has held its annual “Traditional Brands” national conference with five brands in attendance – Whitegates, Martin & Co, CJ Hole, Parkers and Ellis & Co, and in total there were almost 400 attendees.

Chief executive Ian Wilson said: “It’s an opportunity for us to recognise excellence, greet each other in a spirit of friendly rivalry and set our course for the coming year.

“Despite a challenging market in 2017, every single one of our traditional brands improved revenues, with Whitegates the star performer, up 14% year on year, and CJ Hole best for lettings revenue growth, up 17%.

“We don’t see our corporate or independent competition achieving these kind of growth rates.”

Wilson added: ‘We gifted our franchisees, not lent them, gifted £260,000 in the past year to help them buy competitors’ businesses and open new offices. As a result, they opened ten new offices and acquired over 2,000 extra managed properties.

 “But our main investment was in five new websites, one for each traditional brand, which have had a transformational effect on how many new business leads our franchisees are receiving.

“My particular favourite is the Ellis & Co website, which uses time lapse photography to prove that the high street is still a busy place to do business.”

 At a black tie event in the evening the group celebrated its top performers who included Chris and Merolyn Whitaker of Martin & Co Plymouth for Best Business Growth, and Chris Hill, of CJ Hole Bristol, as Franchisee of the Year for highest grossing business.