Expansion boosts Belvoir sales
Belvoir Lettings, the estate agency that floated on Aim last year, posted a 35 per cent rise in half-year revenues yesterday to £2.5m after making a string of acquisitions and bolstering its presence in London and the south east. Belvoir runs 142 franchised offices across the UK and aims to grow to 200 by 2016. It is looking to tap into the buoyant private rental market, which expanded from 2.6m to 4.2m households renting between 2001 and 2011, according to Census figures. Some 4.8m households were estimated to be renting in 2012. Profit after tax rose 26.6 per cent to £0.56m in the six months to 30 June. It also proposed to increase its dividend by 17 per cent to 3.4p.