The boss of The Property Franchise Group, Ian Wilson, is to retire after 16 years with the business.
The announcement was made to the London stock exchange today.
Wilson, now 55, will not be stepping down until the end of next year.
Wilson’s stewardship at TPFG has seen the group go from a single brand, Martin & Co in private hands, into a listed organisation with several brands including the online/hybrid business EweMove.
The Property Franchise Group acquired EweMove for £8m upfront from founders Glenn Ackroyd and David Laycock in September 2016. The venture proved loss-making for its new owners, and Ackroyd and Laycock left the following June, before the end of an earn-out period which could theoretically have paid them another £7m.
The Property Franchise Group was at one stage targeted for a merger by rival Belvoir. At the time Wilson described the bid as a hostile take-over, which he resisted strongly.
The hunt will now be on for Wilson’s successor.
The announcement came as The Property Franchise Group issued a half-year trading update ahead of its results in September.
It said that in the first half of this year, its high street brands generated growth in revenues of 3%, while EweMove generated growth of 11%.
The group’s total revenue in the six months was £5.5m, of which management service fees – what the franchisees pay head office – was £4.6m, a group record for first half year trading.
Altogether the outlets managed 56,000 tenanted properties.
Wilson said: “We are pleased to continue to deliver revenue growth across both our high street brands and also our online brand, EweMove, in what has been a tough market.
“Although we have yet to see the full impact of the tenant fee ban which came into force on June 1, we are confident of the actions being undertaken by our franchise network to mitigate the impact on revenues. We will continue to leverage our scale and strong financial position to capitalise on the opportunities both on the high street and online.
“After many fruitful years at the helm of Martin & Co and then The Property Franchise Group, I have made the board aware of my intention to retire at the end of next year. I have seen the company through its IPO and its successful years since.
“Throughout this time the business has shown the strength of its franchise model, the quality of its board and management team, and the resolve and determination to succeed of its franchisees.
“I look forward to continuing to ensure that the business is well positioned to flourish for many years to come.“
The Martin and Co along with Ellis and Co near us are struggling. Then again so are others.
Buying Ewemove was a silly move.
I just found this brand to be weak.
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Wow!
I’ve not heard, “weak” being used to describe a brand that has played a part in helping a company stand out, and grow from a start up to nearly 100 agents / franchises and being sold for millions in just over 3 years.
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Property Poke In The Eye – where is “near us”?
What you say may be true but just sounds disingenuous
Any multiple outlet group will obviously have offices that vary in strength and quality whether wholly owned or franchised. With a franchised model the core business is only affected directly in revenue terms by the % it takes of turnover as each office is individually owned – although can be affected by brand and reputational damage.
Whatever any of our views are on a business that has been transformed over the last decade – I say well done to Ian and best wishes for the future
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It will be sad to see Ian Wilson step down.
A true industry leader, who has achieved so much and created a wealth of opportunities for many hundreds of franchisees, staff and suppliers over the years.
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Ian Wilson has been an industry leader setting a great example for several decades.
He will be missed.
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