Knight Frank books EUR 24m pre-tax profit

Knight Frank has reported a pre-tax profit of just under £21 mln (EUR 24 mln) for the year to end-April 2009. Allthough the result was well down on the pre-tax profit of almost £60 mln the year before, Knight Frank performed better than several of its peers.

The global residential and commercial real estate adviser saw its turnover fall to £257 mln from £334 mln a year ago. The firm said it had a strong balance sheet, with net assets of £58 mln, compared to £76 mln in 2008.

Group chairman Nick Thomlinson said Knight Frank had in the 12 months under review refreshed its global brand, launched a new online global residential property search system, and expanded its global network by opening offices in the Netherlands, Romania and Bahrain.

Thomlinson said Knight Frank continued to perform well since the end of the reporting year. ‘In the four months to August we have continued to trade profitably across the group, with particular strength in our UK residential business which has once again out-performed the market,’ he said.

‘After more than two years of downturn in the UK commercial property market, we are finally seeing signs of recovery in our investment markets with July marking the first positive average yield movement since mid-2007. We still face challenging conditions, however, with our occupational markets expected to suffer the after-effects of the recession for some time to come. It may be 2012 before rents begin to rise again across the board but investors will see positive returns next year as the investment market steadies.’

He said economic sentiment has started to improve in Continental Europe, supported by France and Germany both recording positive GDP growth in the second quarter. ‘However, unemployment levels are projected to continue rising in the short term which, combined with the existing supply/demand imbalance across the majority of the Continent's occupational markets, will continue to exert downward pressure on rents.’