Kathryn Martin, wife of Martin & Co founder Richard Martin, has sold 1,300,000 shares in The Property Franchise Group.

TPFG, of which Richard Martin is chairman, is the umbrella company for brands including EweMove.

The Martins now have a total holding of 8,889,950 shares in the business, or around 34.4% of the company’s issued capital, worth over £13m.

The latest sale raised almost £2m.

It is the second time in a year that Kathryn Martin has sold shares. Last June, she cashed in 810,000 shares to raise some £1.2m.

The Martins, now in their late sixties, founded Martin & Co as a single-branch letting agent in Yeovil, Somerset, in 1986.

In 1993, Richard Martin – who had previously worked in newspaper sales – had a lightbulb moment after reading a book about McDonald’s, and decided to adopt a franchise model with, crucially, back office features and marketing dealt with centrally, and no plans to rely on bank loans.

They grew the Martin & Co business to the point at which TPFG floated on the stock market in 2013 worth £15m, at which time the Martins owned 95% of the business.

It went on to acquire the Xperience franchise from Legal & General, which operated brands CJ Hole, Ellis & Co, Parkers and Whitegates. Other acquisitions have been made since, notably EweMove. The company remains unbeholden to banks.

The share price is currently around 158p.