Property Franchise Group buys 80pc of the Mortgage Genie

The Property Franchise Group announced the acquisition of 80% of the issued share capital of the Mortgage Genie (TMG) on Wednesday, with initial consideration totalling £0.4m, with an estimated additional payment of £90,000 once the post-completion process has been satisfactorily finalised.

It described TMG as a mortgage broker operating as an authorised representative of the PRMIS mortgage network, which is owned by LSL Property Services.

The AIM-traded firm said the acquisition was in line with its strategy to grow the number of financial services advisers serving its network and its strategic partnership announced with LSL on 27 April.

It said the acquisition demonstrated the company’s commitment to developing its financial services income stream, and providing the capacity required to serve its franchisees with mortgage and protection services.

TMG offers “digitally-enabled and tailored” mortgage and protection services to a growing client base, including the franchise network of TPFG's hybrid brand, EweMove.

Founded in 2016 by Matt Stevens, who would continue to lead the business, TMG was said to be “fully invested” in delivering on the long-term vision to grow its advisor capacity, develop its call centre capabilities and “significantly grow” its protection income.

The business currently employs 17 people including 10 advisers and, with the support of TPFG, that growth would be supported and accelerated.

In the year ended 31 July 2020, TMG generated £0.95m of turnover and £71,000 of profit before tax and, with the improvement in the market since then, management was confident of exceeding that performance in the financial year ended 31 July 2021.

“The acquisition of TMG demonstrates our commitment to strategically grow the group's financial services capability which will ultimately provide a meaningful contribution to our franchisees' and Group's financial performance,” said group chief executive officer Gareth Samples.

“We are delighted to be welcoming Matt and his team to the group at such an exciting time in its growth journey and we believe we have the resources in place to enable TMG to increase its market share, whilst simultaneously enabling the Group to develop its financial services income stream.”

At 1421 BST, shares in the Property Franchise Group were down 1.76% at 307.5p.