Hunters expecting to end first half ahead of expectations

Franchised sales and lettings agency business Hunters confirmed on Friday that in the year-to-date, it has signed nine new branches and opened three, as its investors mustered for the annual general meeting.

The AIM-traded firm said it had a “strong pipeline” of agreed sales, and had increased instructions in the four months to the end of April.

“Excluding the effect of the acquisition of our Bristol chain, formerly known as Besley Hill, instructions are up by 5.4% against the same period last year, which should lay the ground for a comparatively strong second half performance,” said chairman Kevin Hollinrake.

He said the first half was expected to end slightly better than the board anticipated, giving the company confidence in the full-year outcome for the group.

“The government has put forward proposals to regulate the industry and to ban certain tenant fees.

“Given our strong sales profile our exposure is expected to be less significant than other lettings-only based participants.

“Furthermore, we believe we will receive an increase in enquiries to join our network to take advantage of our procurement and training, e-learning and support packages, which will prove invaluable in the new regulated environment and as we help good independent agents manage the transition. “

Hollinrake also announced that Hunters’ customer service rating increased to 96% across both sales and lettings, and the firm retained a “healthy pipeline” of parties looking to join the network.

“I look forward to updating you further as the year progresses.”