Savills targets growth in Scotland despite uncertainty ahead

Savills has reported a 3 per cent fall in annual profits and warned of a tough year ahead due to economic and political uncertainty.

However, on the back of a recruitment drive in 2018, the estate agency said it is looking to expand in Scotland where the residential market “out- performs” the rest of the UK.

Savills made pre-tax profits of £109.4 million in 2018, compared with £112.4m the previous year, weighed down by currencyheadwindsandweak investor sentiment caused by Brexit and US trade policy.

Revenues grew 10 per cent to £1.76 billion and underlying earnings rose 2 per cent to £143.7m thanks to recent acquisitions.

Nick Penny, head of Scotland at Savills, said: “As the Scottish residential market continues to outperform the rest of the UK, we have expanded teams in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Brechin.

“We have already won significant instructions in 2019, which we hope to continue to build on throughout the year.”

Chief executive Mark Ridley said he expects lower prop- erty transaction volumes across markets in 2019 due to “macro-economic and political uncertainties across the world”.

He added: “At this stage, we expect to see declines in transaction volumes in a number of markets and growth in our less transactional business lines; accordingly we retain our expectations for the group’s performance in 2019.” 0 Nick Penny: Scottish market ‘outperforms the rest of UK’