LSL Property Services reported a group underlying profit of £27.7m, which is up from £10.3m in 2023.
According to LSL Property Services’ latest results, the figures show the “benefits of the strategic transformation” over the last two years and were above consensus expectations and ahead of last year’s results.
The firm also confirmed that it had invested around £1m to develop surveying and valuation products and upgrade its financial services offering.
Its financial services division, which includes the mortgage network Primis, had “increased its focus on its core market” so it was “serving the needs of smaller, mortgage-led financial services businesses, reflecting the strategic decision to reduce its focus on larger, pure protection brokerages”.
The underlying operating profit for the division came to £8.7m, which is up from £7.4m in the prior year.
The firm said it had grown its market share of the UK purchase and remortgage market to 11.8%, a rise from 10.6% in 2023.
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LSL Property Services advisers’ total mortgage lending grew by 12% year-on-year to £46.7bn, reflecting an “increase in market share in all key segments.”
Total adviser numbers jumped by 75 to 2,736, which included 247 TenetLime advisers.
The company said it had integrated 145 TenetLime firms following its acquisition of the firm in February last year.
The report added that advisers selling both mortgage and protection rose by 214 to 2,282, while protection-only advisers contracted by around 137.
The latter was attributed to LSL Property Services deciding to “exit some firms whose business model was not in line with our risk appetite and strategic focus”.
The number of network firms came to 1,108, which is up from 1,000 in 2023. This includes 145 TenetLime firms.
The firm added that there was also a “major programme of investment to enhance the technology solutions” and it expected to spend around £3m in revenue and capital expenditure this year to support the programme.
Pivotal Growth’s headcount reaches over 500
Pivotal Growth acquired eight businesses during 2024, with its adviser headcount growing to over 500.
Since it was launched in 2024, it has acquired 17 businesses.
LSL Property Services said the adviser numbers made it “one of the largest mortgage and protection brokers in the UK, giving it critical mass to leverage its scale to attract deals and drive revenue synergies and profitability”.
The firm said it had invested over £20m in Pivotal since it was launched and would “continue to closely monitor Pivotal’s performance to maximise returns for shareholders”.
Surveying and valuation division profit soars
On the surveying and valuation division side, the group said it benefitted from “contract extensions with improved terms” and a recovery in market conditions.
Revenue grew 36% year-on-year to £97.8m and mortgage approvals were 21% up on 2023, driven by higher purchase approvals – which were up by nearly a third – and remortgage and other approvals jumping by 8%.
LSL Property Services’ market share of physical and remote valuation instructions was pegged at around 38%, which is in line with the prior year’s figure of 37%.
Underlying operating profit came to £22.5m, which is an increase from £6.7m.
The firm said it had retained contracts with all lending customers and had also secured a long-term contract extension with Lloyds Banking Group.
It added that it was working to develop a new revenue stream, such as the provision of automated valuation and data services to lenders and growing the number of valuation and surveying jobs undertaken for the end customer.
This included an investment of around £1m to support its data and valuation work, as well as adding senior headcount in its data and valuation modelling teams, while increasing consumer and marketing spend by £0.5m.
LSL Property Services said this spend helped support an increase of 87% in direct-to-consumer (D2C) revenue, which reached £6.8m.
Estate agency division change showing benefits
LSL Property Services converted its estate agency business to a franchise model in 2023, with the group saying it was “focused on further enhancing our franchising expertise to bring on new partners and develop our services for franchisees”.
The division supported franchises with the acquisition of three letting books during the year, adding around 700 properties to its portfolio, which stands at 37,000.
Underlying operating product came to £7.6m, which is up from £4.3m in the year prior.
David Stewart, LSL Property Services’ group chief executive, said: “2024 was a year of positive progress, as we built successfully on the restructuring work completed in 2023. We were able to grow profits materially, and at a faster rate than we had anticipated at the start of the year.
“Trading in the early months of the new year is in line with expectations, indicating we will be able to improve performance again in 2025. I believe the group is now well-positioned to build on solid foundations and I am sure that under the leadership of Adam Castleton, who will take over as group CEO on 1 May, the group will go from strength to strength.”
