The ambitious Romans Group has signalled its determination for further expansion.
Lettings managing director Peter Fuller has become director of mergers and acquisitions.
Romans, based in the Thames Valley, has made a number of acquisitions and has a significant war chest for more. It has been tipped as a contender for a stock market listing.
Fuller’s successor in the lettings managing director role is Michael Cook, who has been with the firm for ten years.
Fuller, who has already acquired nearly 30 businesses for Romans, is himself a legend in the property industry, where he has worked for over 33 years.
He started his career in 1983 as a 17-year-old office junior at Mann & Co in Wokingham, Berkshire, passing on the baton to 16-year-old Dale Norton, who went on to found Romans in 1987.
In 1991, Fuller joined Romans as manager of Romans’ new Wokingham office. The firm has since won a large number of industry awards, while EYE will always remember interviewing those impressive school-leavers launching Romans, and who had been dismissed by their teachers as unlikely to amount to anything. We will try to dig the interview out of the archives.
Fuller yesterday said: “We are actively looking to acquire sales and lettings businesses, from dynamic agencies with multiple branches to those with small lettings portfolios.”
Peter Fuller
Michael Cook
Comments (6)
Interestingly, i have subsequently spoken to someone at Romans, and some of their offices are organically growing at 20% to 30% a year … so I stand corrected on that
A thoroughly respectable business, it could be argued that they have lost their ‘edge’ a bit compared to a while back but overall a good example of how to do business in the property world………..and spin me over and call me Gladys, they aren’t on Zoopla.
Never know they might join the Agents Mutual family
Jonnie
Christopher: Valid point in some instances but not this one – they’ve averaged over 10% pa organic growth for the past 3 years excluding any acquisitions – its a dual track growth strategy.
10% isn’t bad at all WGC .. and if you to buy me a pint at the ‘Estate Agents Arms’, I would actually say the dual track growth approach is good, very good (in fact if you have both organic growth and acquisition -its double bubble!)… but (I assume you must work for Romans with knowledge like that of the 10%) .. what If you could grow every Roman’s Lettings agency office by 20% to 30% a year organically? Would you be interested in knowing how?
It does make me smile that the Corporates and mini Corporates (i.e. the Romans of this world) are like Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Man U’s and Arsenals of this world .. ‘Cheque Book Letting Agents’ –
.. when with a bit of thought, immagination and foresight, they could easily organically grow their agencies by at least 50 to 100 managed properties a year without being saddled by years of debt. Letting agents have become lazy in their approach to winning new business because they think its so hard to do .. trust me, it isn’t – I have over 70 clients around the UK who are growing by these sorts of numbers of new managed stock each year. Its hard work, it takes effort and patience … but I suppose if you have the cash in the bank – and its burning a hole in the pocket – you can’t blame them for spending it