Martin & Co to smash 200 target as revenues swell

Martin & Co has announced that it will have grown to 200 franchises by next summer, and that it is recruiting at the rate of 20 new franchisees a year.

And, in a dig at rival Belvoir which floated on the AIM stock market earlier this year to raise money for its own expansion, Martin & Co said that the firm’s growth has been ‘without resort to private equity or a public market listing’.

Martin & Co also said that while the lettings market has grown 7.5% each year over the last decade, the Martin & Co group itself has grown at a rate of 20%.

It said that its business model has ‘has allowed the group to continue to access bank funding since the credit crisis and draw down £4.5m in start-up funding in five years’.

It announced that group fee income grew 15% in 2011 and is on target for £36m in 2012.

Martin & Co, which marks 26 years in business this year, now manages in excess of 27,000 properties through 182 franchisees.

Ian Wilson, managing director of Martin & Co, said: “Having established our brand strength, we’re continuing to innovate by using our well-respected retail shop footprint to do other things.

“We believe that we are perfectly placed to offer the full range of advice and services to property investors, who form a new asset class in the UK.

“We can’t wait to see the 2011 census results published for confirmation of how the tenure map of the UK has changed in the ten years since the last census. New private renting hotspots have come into existence, and new opportunities to service this growing sector.”

He said that the aim of the company – which he described as financially strong with no debt – is to become  a one-stop property shop for lettings, sales and investment.

Martin & Co has so far this year bought back three of its franchise offices and plans to increase its company-owned holding to 60 franchises over the next five years.

Wilson said: “We are investing directly in our own brand in the most tangible way possible, by buying back successful franchises. It gives our franchisee a guaranteed exit, and it will improve our profits as lettings businesses can operate on 40% gross margins. This is a good business to be in.”