Thirty eight partners in Knight Frank have landed an average £1m pay day after profits soared by 67% in the last financial year. Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph
Nick Thomlinson, senior partner and chairman of Knight Frank, conceded he was circumspect about the prospects for the year ahead, but insisted that the group’s diversity and breadth of service would help it to withstand any downturn in the market cycle.
Partners’ pay increased nearly 50pc to an average £1.1m. However this could be the high-water mark for pay at Knight Frank, which has halved its UK house price growth estimate for 2008 to 3pc.
Its residential division, which is best known for selling country houses and luxury homes, has also had some big wins, including the sale of the Crown Estate’s former headquarters to tycoons Srichand and Gopichand Hin-duja. In November Kate Moss sold the three-bedroom Victorian mansion in north London that she shared with former lover Pete Doherty for £3.25m through Knight Frank.
In total, its residential division sold more than 700 London and country properties, each worth more than £2m, last year.
Knight Frank said that, overall, in the financial year to April 30, 2007, turnover rose by 32% to £284.4m and underlying group operating profits increased by 67% to £59.6m.