Winkworth franchisees brought in £49m last year, with the franchisor itself earning £5.87 in revenue – a rise of 6.7% on the previous year.

Pre-tax profits at Winkworth slipped 1% to £1.91m.

During the year, two new offices opened and eight franchises were re-sold.

CEO Dominic Agace said: “Despite headwinds for much of 2015 we reported broadly flat profitability for the year, increased the total dividend payout by 41% and continued to invest in new, centralised initiatives to drive growth in the medium term.

“After a strong finish to the year, we are now enjoying a positive start to 2016 across all our offices and an increase in franchisee applications.”

He said that the newly formed Corporate Relocation Department generated 4,000 searches for rental property.

This helped to drive revenue growth, with rentals rising by 7% and increasing as a proportion of Winkworth’s total sales from 35% in 2014 to 38% in 2015.

The goal is for rentals to account for 50% of Winkworth’s business.

He said that investment in centralised services was adding value for clients, who were benefiting from marketing their properties through a “joined up network, rather than through a single agency or an online agent”.

New franchisee applications picked up sharply in the last quarter of last year, with 40 applicants compared to 19 in the same period of 2014.

Three more openings are confirmed for this year, and a further three are the subject of “advanced discussions”.

Agace added: “We are yet to see any negative impact on the residential property market from the referendum on EU membership in June and have enjoyed a positive start to the year across all our offices.”