Profits up, debts down as GVA looks for acquisitions

GVA, the commercial property consultant which has been involved in a number of major Yorkshire deals, yesterday revealed that it had increased its profits and cut its debt.
Ben Hall, investment director at GVABen Hall, investment director at GVA
Ben Hall, investment director at GVA

The company is also considering acquisitions as the market improves.

In June, GVA was involved in the £37m sale of the Nimbus distribution unit in Doncaster.

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GVA acted for London-based investment fund Tritax on the acquisition of Nimbus from CBRE Global Investors.

At the time, Ben Hall, investment director at GVA in Yorkshire, described the sale as “huge for the region”.

GVA was also involved in the £1.75m sale of Olympia House in Leeds, an office and laboratory building occupied by The Environment Agency. It was acquired by a Yorkshire private investor.

The company achieved a full year profit before tax of £7.8m, £7.7m up on the previous year, as its performance was boosted by the previous year’s shareholder debt for equity swap.

GVA reduced its bank debt by £9.4m during the year to £7m.

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The company is on course to become debt-free within a year from now.

In a statement, the company said yesterday: “During a year in which it recorded a total turnover for the overall business of £147.3m, up from £140.4m on the previous year, the company performed well under challenging trading conditions.”

Rob Bould, the chief executive of GVA, said: “These results reflect a robust performance that fulfils the goals we set out to meet in April 2012.

“The success of our company restructure, coupled with our ability to build on that platform throughout last year, have turned GVA into a far safer and stronger proposition.

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“We have gained market share, increased fee income and continued to invest in our resilient, advisory-led regional model that differentiates us from other UK commercial property advisers.

“Market sentiment has improved markedly over recent months. We don’t see trading conditions improving significantly until well into 2014, but positive sentiment, built on hard evidence that better times lie ahead, means now is an important period in which to invest in one’s existing assets.

“With this in mind, GVA is entering another period of growth, due largely to last year’s robust performance. Business acquisitions are back on the agenda.”

Mr Bould said GVA was already hiring a string of high level directors, “to complement any future acquisitions”.

GVA has 12 offices and 700 fee earners across the UK.