Savills staff set for £60m property windfall

SAVILLS staff are in line for a £60 million windfall after the property business, which focuses on the upper end of the market, reported a marked recovery in the UK residential housing market.

The firm almost doubled pre-tax profits from its estate agency arm to 6.3m in 2009 thanks to a second-half surge in activity across the UK and also the Asia Pacific region.

But its expected bumper payout – set to be confirmed in its annual report due out soon – is more than double group-wide profits as other parts of the company suffered last year.

Savills reported a 24 per cent drop in underlying pre-tax profits to 25.2m for 2009 after widening losses at its financial services division and a sharp drop in consultancy profits offset better transaction earnings.

The group said its bonus is calculated and paid out on a division-by-division basis and, therefore, was driven by the turnaround in the estate agency business.

Its sale transaction profits in the UK rocketed by 320 per cent as the market picked up from the second quarter onwards and as it benefited from action to cut costs and trim staff.

Savills employs about 3,000 people in the UK and just under 20,000 worldwide. It said a lack of houses on the market pushed prices back towards the peak seen in 2007, but added it was unclear over the 2010 outlook.