Foxtons has snapped up the lettings business of Aston Rowe for £2.2m.
Aston Rowe operates primarily in Acton and Brook Green in west London and has a lettings book comprising 689 tenancies, property management services and 10 lettings employees.
The existing Aston Rowe sales business does not form part of the transaction and will continue to be run by the current owners, who will also retain the trading premises and the Aston Rowe name.
Foxtons said in a statement: “The directors believe the lettings book will fit well with our existing business model and branch network due to the high level of customer service and strong growth record. It is expected that this transaction will be earnings enhancing in 2021.
“The cash consideration for Aston Rowe is £2.2m, on a cash and debt free basis, of which £0.2m is deferred for a period of 6 months. The consideration is being funded by Foxtons’ existing cash resources. The acquired Lettings business had unaudited revenue and profit before tax for the 12 months ending 31 August 2020 of £1.1m and £0.5m respectively. Gross assets at 31 August 2020 were £2.0m.
“The implementation of our strategy to acquire well run lettings businesses with a strong local presence continues to gather momentum.”
Taking into account other acquisitions made earlier this year, Foxtons has now acquired a total of 1,600 tenancies in 2020, with historical annual revenues of £2.8m for a total consideration of £4.6m.
Comments (1)
Well done Aston Rowe for achieving such multiples and only having to agree to £200k deferred. I can’t believe though in these straitened times that anyone would still be daft enough to pay those sort of multiples and in cash. The independents around and about must be salivating at the prospect of picking up free business as the attrition rate gets going. I loved it in the days when Countrywide or Romans were paying silly money for well run portfolios and the underlying landlord clients ran away from them as fast as they could.