LSL, the parent company of brands including Your Move, Reeds Rains and Marsh & Parsons, has revealed the extent of its job losses for the first time since its branch closures earlier this year.

Altogether 460 people left the business as the branch network was cut from 404 to around 280, with the new figure including 144 ‘keystone branches’, plus 135 franchises.

Helen Buck, LSL’s head of estate agency said this morning that altogether some 900 jobs were impacted by the closures.

However, some 160 staff moved across to the franchised business now run by Nigel Favas and LSL’s former estate agency boss David Newnes, and others went to jobs elsewhere in the LSL business, including part-exchange.

Buck said: “It was a really tough, really horrible time.” However, she said: “We came through it and estate agency is now in a good place.”

Buck was speaking to EYE after LSL announced its half-year results this morning, showing that the branch closures and redundancies cost some £13m.

Today’s results show that the LSL group made a pre-tax loss of £4.6m in the first six months of this year, compared with a £6.4m profit in the same period last year.

Group revenues were 1% up, at £154.1m, and LSL said its group underlying profit (a figure calculated before exceptional costs) was also up, at £12.2m, compared with £11.6m last year.

Net bank debt was also up, by 13%, standing up £52m as at June 30, compared with £46m the year before.

The results say that the estate agency restructure has been implemented in line with expectations, despite the size and complexity of the project, and it expects to see a “material improvement” in profits. It said that underlying operating profit in the estate agency division had nearly tripled, from £1.4m to £4m, “benefiting materially” from the reshaping of the Your Move and Reeds Rains branch networks.

In the first half of this year, total estate agency revenue was down 13%, to £77.1m, reflecting both the branch closures and market conditions.

Sales income was £27.6m, down 16% from £32.9m, while lettings income fell 9%, to £33.8m.

Flagship business Marsh & Parsons saw its revenues down 5.5%, to £15m, compared with £15.9m in the same period last year.

Marsh & Parsons, with branches in London, saw its residential sales down 10.6%. However Buck said: “We reckon that London sales are down 15% overall, so Marsh & Parsons is outperforming the market.”

LSL has a major stake in online business Yopa, but Buck would not be drawn into any comment.

However, today’s results show that LSL has further written down its investment.

It assessed its stake in Yopa at £6.5m at the end of June, down from £7.8m at the end of December and down from its original £20m.

LSL’s accounts also reveal that in June it disposed of its entire holding in eProp Services – parent company of The Guild, Fine & Country, and easyProperty – for £1,015,000. This was less than half the £2,716,000 its investment was assessed as being worth at the end of last year.