The Property Franchise Group has helped its franchisees make more acquisitions so far this year than for the whole of 2017. It has also announced ambitious plans for next year.
The group, owners of Martin & Co, Whitegates, CJ Hole, Ellis & Co, Parkers and EweMove has assisted its franchisees to acquire 16 portfolios and a total of 2,107 tenanted managed properties this year. The numbers are set to grow between now and the end of the year.
Group CEO Ian Wilson said: “We have offers agreed on another 1,139 managed properties, so we should comfortably exceed 3,000 properties added to the portfolio in 2018, and we want to build on this and add another 4,000 in 2019.”
Wilson said that the Group assists its franchisees to target businesses, negotiate the sale and ensure that there is funding for completion.
He added: “Uniquely we pay cashback to our franchisees to reward them for expanding their business. This is extremely helpful to meet their immediate cash flow demands following an acquisition, as there can be unexpected bills to pay.
“From the sellers’ point of view, they want to know that the deal will go through and that their landlords and staff will be looked after. We can provide that reassurance with our dedicated specialist acquisition team.”
The Property Franchise Group retains as its broker Sharon Titchmarsh, trading as Watson Stanley. She is the former acquisitions director at Countrywide.
Wilson said: “The smallest deal was a bolt-on portfolio of 24 properties purchased from Nidderdale Properties in Harrogate.
The biggest deal was 346 properties purchased from Castle Estates in Sheffield. Close to our Bournemouth head fffice, we helped Philip Skorochod buy a portfolio of 162 properties from Paris Lettings.
“You have to hand it to Philip, he only bought the franchise in April 2018 and he wants to buy more.
“Our franchisee Julian Bessey bought a student lettings business, A Home 4 Students, in Winchester and geographically, to date, we have bought in every region except London and Scotland, which is frustrating as we have buyers actively looking.
“A number of the transactions have been share sales which can be tax-efficient for sellers as they pay tax as low as 10% on their capital gain. Four brands have been active buyers so far this year – Martin & Co is unsurprisingly the most active, but so too has CJ Hole, Whitegates, and EweMove.”
The business would not reveal the total number of properties under management to EYE, saying this is commercially sensitive information.
Separately, the Leaders Romans Group has announced the completion of another acquisition – GPS Property Management, in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire – and, like The Property Franchise Group, has made it clear it wants to buy more.
The business, acquired for an undisclosed sum, has been owned and run by husband and wife team Garry and Sarah Peacock for the last eight years.
The business will rebrand to Leaders, offering both sales and lettings services. The original GPS Property Management staff will stay on.
Matthew Light, group mergers and acquisitions director, said: “Recent months have seen us continue to expand with numerous acquisitions, adding several new portfolios and branches in key markets across the UK.
“We are delighted to have acquired this well-respected business and we welcome its staff members.”
He made it clear that he welcomes approaches from agents interested in selling up.
Leaders Romans has now acquired some 150 businesses, bringing outlets to over 160 branches, with 50,000 rental properties under management, and annual revenues of over £120m.
The group is backed by private equity firm Bowmark Capital.
Well Sharon certainly has some hands on experience flashing the cheque book for CWD as Acquistions Director. Advising on the acquisition of 30 businesses in 2015 for CWD and including Finders Keepers in 2016 .
It’s not difficult to see who had the best part of those deals! The current situation with CWD writing off hundreds of millions of goodwill relating to those purchases maybe indicates that necessarily wasn’t the smartest of moves.
Experience is a hard school so perhaps she has suggested some major haircutting on prices being paid for acquistions in the current market by TPFG !
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And they seem to be buying just at the right moment- just in time for the market to correct in the lead up to Brexit. She’ll probably be gone before the brown stuff hits the fan!
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what is the going rate now? One times turnover, paid in three instalments?
might sound strange considering the number of threats to the lettings industry, but could be great time to start up with the number of true independents disappearing and many landlords not wanting to stay with a *corporate*.
Also, I hope leaders/romans have a clawback on tenants fees, as these are not displayed at all on the website (unless they are hidden somewhere I cannot find). It would be pretty easy to ask for any fees paid back considering they have not complied with the CRA 2015. (also a member of ARLA so easy to have uploaded the generic tenant fee sheet)
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It’s misleading to say that there is a “going rate” but the market appears to be clearing at between 1.5 and 2.0 x turnover for a lettings book, having first taken out tenant fee income. We have executed some deals as “earn outs” but mainly the cash is paid up front with 90% on completion and 10% retention against specific events, but rarely held back for more than 6-months.
For a standalone lettings business with premises and staff, which the buyer will trade on, the valuation is typically made on a multiple of profit with 3x adjusted annual profit being the norm, although 4x is possible for an exceptional business. Adjusted profit because sometimes the buyer has to add back costs. For example, the seller worked in the business and did not pay themselves a salary, but took their cash as dividends. The buyer may need to appoint a manager.
Sellers sometimes find it hard to believe, but it’s often the case that a business is worth more if it’s closed down and the lettings book sold off, as the buyer will just “bolt it on” to their existing property management department, and this will generate maximum profits.
Because we retain Sharon Titchmarsh AKA Watson Stanley as our broker we keep very close to how prices in the market are moving. Sharon hates me making these types of valuation statements because she says there can always be exceptions and people get fixated on multiples which can be misleading. I will receive a good kicking for this….
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Chump
Well what do you think about her purchases when she was AD at CWD now having written of all that goodwill within a few years ?.Did she have her eye firmly on the way prices were moving then ? Disappearing revenue syndrome
By the time Finders Keepers were purchased in 2016 there were plenty of red flags waving then The founders of Finders Keepers laughing all the way to the bank and already off the premises
Let’s not beat about the bush .Those purchases were catastrophic for CWD and shareholders alike !
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We all make bad decisions Hill
I think acquisitions are not a bad things as margins are squeezed across the board, but I do know plenty of landlords who don’t like the prospect of staying with companies like TPFG and Leaders, so will jump ship. Good news for other indies in the local area IMHO, and if I was in Nottingham for example, I would be targeting those GPS landlords.
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Darrel
There are bad decisions but these were of nuclear proportions
We certainly do but not many can put their hands up and make over 30 of them culminating in the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds in a very short period of time destroying people’s careers and shareholders investments Punch drunk on purchases
Which bit didn’t she factor in 2106 about the effect of the potential ban on letting fees and that the tax changes which was likely to herald the private investor disappearing when Finders Keepers were bought at a very fancy price?
Maybe she has learned from this experience but at what price?
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I’m well aware of the impairment charges hitting Countrywide. Before we appointed Sharon we asked her some searching questions and I’m satisfied she is absolutely on top of her game. As Sharon herself said, the best business she ever bought was the most expensive and it continued to produce great returns, and the worst business was the cheapest. The problem in corporate world is that after Sharon completed on a deal it was passed over to a regional director who was not going to be paid any more for looking after it and was already busy. So the problem is not that the Countrywide paid too much, it just often failed to integrate what it bought, and lost key management.
Interestingly, because we don’t manage our properties through giant call centres, we can reassure sellers and their landlord clients (who they may know socially) that the local franchisee will continue to provide personalised service. The bigger corporate players are forced to adopt a “one size fits all” approach which hacks landlords off.
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“As Sharon herself said, the best business she ever bought was the most expensive and it continued to produce great returns, and the worst business was the cheapest”
Impairment charge -is that what you call it!
Well you couldn’t make that one up after CWD has been destroyed ,
She sounds very easy on herself then passing the buck,abdicating responsibility .You can’t blame the regional director for the disappearing turnover .Silly prices agreed based on a multiplier on profits from good years for businesses earned by individuals effectively as golden goodbyes .Disappearing off the premises within an acceptable short term revenue and clients following .Rinse and repeat over 30 times
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Between TPFG/Leaders/Romans/Belvoir/Northwood/Haart who; a) are collectively in all major towns/cities of the UK, and; b) are despertately trying to scale up given the impending doom and gloom within the sector, is it really any wonder that across the country lettings portfolios are still hugely over-priced?
Well run independents with, say, 300+ properties are in a great position to sell up and should seriously think about getting themselves on the receiving end of these sorts of multiples – such prices are going to drop significantly next year. May not get another chance for a good few years thereafter, if ever!
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The days of 2X turnover are long gone. You currently are looking 1.3 minus tenant fee’s max… IMO its a terrible time to sell your lettings business. Corporates are struggling, profits a lower year on year and only plan on tenant fee ban is to grow there way out of the issue. I worked closely with an nationwide estate agency for 12 months and were seriously struggling with numbers. Hold on to your book, corporates can’t beat the local independent service.
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Lettings and Management is another part of the property industry which is going to take a knock in 2019.
If you are looking to buy, I would hold off unless you are getting a portfolio where you are paying the seller over a 1 or 2 year period from the income of the portfolio.
Don’t get carried away with what other people are acquiring with INVESTORS funds.
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