Savills builds global presence

Savills continues to benefit from global interest in property as a safe and profitable investment - even from sovereign wealth funds that have "never owned a brick", says chief executive Jeremy Helsby. That trend helped it lift both sales and underlying pre-tax profits at its key transaction advisory division by 12 per cent and profit at its consultancy business by a third to £8.4m.

The group grew underlying profits in the UK, US and even in continental Europe, as property markets improved even in once crash-blighted markets like Spain and Ireland. However, its profits from the Pacific rim slumped by nearly a fifth, reflecting the recent introduction of punishingly high tax rates in Hong Kong and Singapore. Savills’s global presence helps insulate it from any weakness in individual markets, but the strategy isn’t just to pin "flags on maps", stresses Mr Helsby. Instead it wants to dominate - which explains why it recently acquired US occupier services firm Studley, the market leader in New York and Washington.

Savills’s strong US showing and resilience in Asia prompted broker Numis to raise its pre-tax profit and EPS forecasts by 5 per cent to £90.1m and 51.3p - up from £75.2m and 43.1p last year.