Upmarket estate agent Humberts said today that it planned to continue its rapid expansion plans on the back of a sharp increase in profits
The firm, in which Vincent Tchenguiz’s Consensus owns a 26% stake, posted interim results to 31 March showing pretax profits of £2.1m, up from £680,000 in 2006, from a turnover of £13.6m.
Humberts has 69 offices, following the acquisition of 11 new businesses in the last year, comprising 21 branches.
Chief executive Max Ziff said that there were plans for further acquisitions, with the company in the process of agreeing heads of terms with several firms. He also said Humberts planned to have more than 80 offices by the end of its financial year in September, and more than 200 in three years' time.
He said Humberts planned to increase its presence in areas such as the Thames Valley, East Anglia and Cheshire.
‘We have £8m in cash sitting here to spend, and are close to agreeing a further £10m facility, so we will continue with our business model of buying existing successful businesses,’ he said.
He confirmed that the acquisitions had fuelled the increase in turnover, but added that ‘organic’ like-for-like sales from existing businesses had also increased 21% from 2006.