Shares in LSL Property Services fell 13 per cent on these results. That reflected two substantial problems in its core surveying division - weak trading, which sapped profit growth, and provisions for professional indemnity relating to over-optimistic surveys from 2004-08, which led to a huge one-off charge of £17.3m.
Both problems have at their root in LSL's dominance in the home survey market during the boom years. The company values homes for most of the major UK lenders, which are now losing share of the mortgage market, often deliberately. It also lost the Cheltenham & Gloucester contract, worth £12.5m last year, because Lloyds decided to cut costs by doing surveys in-house. Lower sales and tighter margins cut divisional profits from £12.8m to £9.7m.