Tenant fees ban fails to dent franchise empire’s profits

Hunters has reported a small increase in pre-tax profit in it full-year results despite the impact of the ban on tenant fees.

It boasted an adjusted pre-tax profit of £2.06m for the year ending December 31, up from £2.02m in 2018; however, adjusted EBITDA dipped to £2.24m from £2.28m, mostly attributed to the fees ban.

In the comparable period of 2018, tenant fees had generated income of £430,000 for the group. 

Attached to the 2019 full year figures trading statement was an update on how the franchise giant was dealing with the Coronavirus outbreak. 

Chairman Kevin Hollinrake, who is also a Conservative MP, told shareholders: "2020 had started very positively with sales valuations up 17 per cent in the two months to February compared to the same period last year. Of course, the effects of Covid-19 are hard to predict but will certainly significantly impact on results.

"We took a timely decision to implement a range of cost savings, such as significant utilisation of government support such as the Job Retention Scheme and securing an additional £3.5m facility, whilst continuing our core operations.

"The short, medium and long-term effects of Covid-19 are impossible to predict accurately, however, we are confident that our mitigation measures will put us in a strong position to take advantage of the economic recovery.”