Winkworth reported its half-year profit and revenue yesterday, revealing that it had fallen from a pandemic peak but remained ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

Pretax profit fell 46% to £1.1m, from £2m in the first six months of 2022, while revenue was down by 18% to £4.3m from £5.2m in the same period last year.

But both figures were significantly above their pre-pandemic equivalent. Pre-tax profit was up 85% from the first half of 2019, while revenue increased by 68%.

Additionally, sales applicants in July 2022 were 4% ahead of July 2021 and 26% ahead of July 2019.

Winkworth’s CEO, Dominic Agace, said: “Our first half results, which are in line with management’s expectations, are not flattered by the comparison with the extraordinarily strong first half of 2021, but show that our business has developed well since the last year of normalised trading in 2019.”

“We enter the second half with an overhang of unfulfilled business, the confidence that our franchisees are adept at adjusting rapidly to changing markets, and a business model that is designed to perform throughout the property cycle.”