EweMove had an outstanding year as it continued to build on its brand positioning and scale, it’s parent company, The Property Franchise Group (TPFG) announced this morning.

The sale of 58 new territories versus 11 in 2020 helped set a new record for the hybrid agency for the total number of territories under contract of 167. This puts the TPFG on track to achieve one of its core strategic aims: to double the size of its EweMove territories to 230 by the end of 2022.

TPFG trading update for the year ended 31 December 2021 shows that the group achieved a strong overall performance in 2021 through organic growth, a very active residential housing market and the acquisition of Hunters, which completed last year.

Like for like revenue and management service fees were significantly up on 2020 and, it is important to note given the disruption in 2020, similarly up on 2019. As a result, profit is now anticipated to be ahead of market expectations.

The group says that the government’s initiatives to support the housing market, coupled with remote working and changes to homeowners’ requirements, supported a very strong property sales performance, with 26,000 sales’ contracts exchanged across our network. Although those initiatives ended in September 2021, we continued to see strong levels of sales being agreed and finished the year with a significant sales agreed pipeline of £26.5m.

The Group now manage in excess of 74,000 rental properties on behalf of landlords, with much of the growth through the year coming from the acquisition of Hunters. Consequently, lettings Managed Service Fees (‘MSF’) increased 18% versus 2020. Towards the end of the year, we started to see a rise in the rents charged for both new and renewed tenancies in the range of 6% – 8%.

TPFG hopes that its recently revamped hybrid franchise model, ‘Hunters Personal Agent’, will help further boost market performance.

Overall, the group says it made faster progress than expected with the strategic initiatives first outlined in September 2020 and continues to have substantial growth opportunities ahead of it. All of which is underpinned by significant recurring lettings revenue and a strong balance sheet. We continue to identify potential acquisition targets to enhance shareholder value and to invest in our team. Consequently, the Board remains confident in the long-term outlook for the business.

Chief executive officer, Gareth Samples, commented: “The board and I are delighted to report that the excellent trading momentum seen in the first six months of 2021 continued in the second half. We have built a fantastic senior management team across the Group with an incredible combined knowledge and experience of the market.

“The value of their guidance and support can be seen reflected in the fact that we are seeing more and more people interested in joining our franchise network, as well as existing franchisees wishing to expand their representation.

“We’ve also made significant strides forward against each of our strategic priorities this year, which are vital in underpinning our ongoing success no matter how the external conditions develop. With the support of our employees, franchisees, and partners, we are well on track to increase our market share substantially further.”