Foxtons first-quarter revenues drop 25%

Estate agency Foxtons reported a 25% drop in revenue for the first quarter as sales commissions slumped.

In a very brief trading update ahead of its annual general meeting, the group said revenue fell to £28.7m from £38.4m in the first quarter of last year and £26.4m in the fourth quarter of 2016. The group pointed out that the first quarter of 2016 was boosted by the fact that many transactions were brought forward as clients rushed to beat the introduction of the stamp duty surcharge on buy-to-let investments and second homes.

Sales commissions nearly halved to £11.1m from £20.0m, lettings revenue nudged down to £15.5m from £15.8m and mortgage broking fees slipped to £2.1m from £2.6m.

At 0915 BST, the shares were down 1.7% to 104.25p.