How property consultancy Knight Frank performed in its last financial year

Turnover was up 6 per cent, for the year ended March 31, 2020, to £549.6m as Knight Frank completed a number of key transactions including 7 & 8 Wellington Place in Leeds for £210m.

Profit before tax was down 4 per cent to £142.7m from £148.4m the previous year.

Knight Frank said this was down to hesitation, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, in the final part of the year with a number of transactions deferring into the following year.

The property consultancy added that its balance sheet remained strong with Knight Frank reporting net assets of over £264m.

Henrie Westlake, head of Knight Frank’s Leeds office, said: “These results, although pre-Covid, demonstrate the strength of the Yorkshire business.

“Clearly the pandemic has subsequently changed the way we work, but the whole-hearted commitment and optimism of our team in Leeds has ensured that we continue to do the very best we can for all our clients.

“Highlights of the last financial year included a number of award-winning transactions, notably the funding of 7 & 8 Wellington Place for £210m and the multi-million pound development and funding of the new Amazon distribution facility at Muse’s Logic Leeds.

“We have also been heavily involved in the success of pioneering new office developments in Leeds, such as Kinrise’s 34 Boar Lane and Rushbond’s Majestic, as clients and markets show a flight to quality.

“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we remain optimistic about the future, both in Leeds and in the UK as a whole.

“These are testing and challenging times, but we believe we have both the talented staff and the quality of clients to ensure we emerge even stronger once Covid is over.”

Staff costs at the global property consultancy increased from £230.3m in 2019 to £248.2m for the latest financial year.

Alistair Elliott, senior partner and group chairman of Knight Frank, said: “Set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to cause global economic uncertainty and market hesitation, we are pleased with this strong set of results demonstrating the firm’s ongoing resilience.”

He added: “Our turnover shows a 6 per cent growth on the prior year, with solid growth of our activities in India, Greater China, Spain and France as we continue to enhance our global platform.

“This is supported by the continued upward trend of our core UK market presence.

“Hesitation, due to Covid-19, in the final part of the year resulted in a slight drop in profits with a number of transactions deferring into the following year.

“Despite the earlier restrictions regarding Covid-19, our performance in Asia Pacific remained resilient and we saw improved margins in Europe.

“Overall most markets performed well.

“The partnership remains resolute in its plans to continue to invest in the people and markets where we can best service our clients.”

Trading ahead of expectation

The property consultancy said that while it was difficult to generalise how the real estate sector is doing, given the Covid-19 disruption, it is trading ahead of expectations at the half-year point.

Alistair Elliott said: “It is extremely difficult to generalise, given all of the circumstances and the impact the real estate sector is experiencing.

“However, we are trading ahead of expectations at the half year point and, from our perspective, areas such as lease advisory, valuations, property management and most consultancy services have held up extremely well with some producing really strong performances.”

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James Mitchinson