Coming on the same day that EYE scooped the story of the imminent departure of ARLA CEO David Cox from the organisation, Propertymark Ltd, the company owning and operating NAEA, ARLA, NAVA, ICBA and APIP, published its 2019 accounts.
For the year ended 31st December 2019, the headline figures show a significant drop in membership revenue – despite a small increase in membership numbers.
In 2018 membership fees amounted to £4.8m.
In 2019 this figure fell to £3.5m, a drop of £1.3m.
Profits for the group dropped to £224,000 compared with £962,000 in 2018.
EYE asked Propertymark for an explanation of what caused the drop in membership fee income.
A Propertymark spokeperson responded by saying: “The accounts were fully audited and presented in full at the AGM.”
In the published accounts it might have been expected that there would be an explanatory note giving details of the the cause of such a substantial reduction, but no such note can be found.
Membership numbers stood at 17,569 on 31st December 2019, up slightly from 2018 (17,057).
The Group Stategic Report says that “we are alert to the possibility that Propertymark membership numbers may be affected negatively” by factors including the effects of Brexit and Covid-19, but it also says that membership levels may be positively influenced by what forthcoming Regulation (RoPA) could require as an entry level qualification.
Training courses in 2019 were attended by 3,141 members and non-members and 2,087 accredited qualifications were awarded.
The member helplines dealt with 24,343 calls in the year, most of which related to lettings rather than sales.
Propertymark says that, like for like, group turnover was up 4.5% but the accounts show total turnover declined by £1.065m to £6.242m
The cost of sales was £2.890m.
Admin expenses were £4.669m, down from £5.369m in 2018.
Cash balances stand at £3.9m
The Group spent £422,000 on IT systems and has a commitment to spend another £251,000 in further IT development.
In relation to this the report says:
“We continue to develop the new ARCA IT system.
“This has seen a long process of fundamental review of all areas of operation, the links to our finance system and website.
“That work has been progressed during 2019 and we are on target for implementation during 2020 within a budget and closely monitored by the Propertymark Board.”
Staff numbers rose from an average of 55 in 2018 to 61 in 2019, with remuneration rising from £1.9m to £2.3m.
During 2019 key management personnel compensation amounted to £536,969 (2018: £451,030).
Comments (15)
We left 4 years ago! Useless organisation with extortionately increased fees.
stealing a living anyway
Left about 15 years ago. They do not add value. They add complication.
Because Propertymark is irrelevant in today’s times.
According to their CEO (salary around the £450,000 plus expenses to visit the overseas offices) the RICS gained 3,000 new members but lost 7,000 that is a drop in income of around £2.5 million according to their accounts a loss of almost £9 million over the last three years.
RICS?
Yes the RICS
Chris
You are so correct, the organisation is dysfunctional. Feel sorry for the ‘normal’ staff
Anyone who wants to know the answer to this and the previous story about the David Cox ‘mystery’, needs to look back a little further into allegations of bullying, financial ‘anomalies’, breaches of NFoPP, ARLA, NAEA rules and election protocols, NDAs and big payouts for whistleblowers, unfair dismissals, refusal to disclose financial links/ payments by/ from/ with a certain corporate PLC. Follow the money. Follow the money.
In the next three years there will be a new regulator, a new code of conduct and mandatory training for agents with no monopoly on which company can provide training. The new regulator will not be any of the existing trade bodies.
If this is what the future looks like, I imagine trade bodies are questioning whether they have a place in this future.
they paid out a million in over two years in golden handshakes….
crazy world we live in….my local council paid the chef executive nearly half a million in redundancy payments, and at the same time claims they are skint
Maybe all the full members left and a whole load of student members arrived?
What value do they add?
Pointless, badly led, egocentric organisation with no value. Simple really.
“Propertymark says that, like for like, group turnover was up 4.5%”
Grant Thornton would/should have advised the board to re-draft 2018 accounts so that they were comparable.
If the Directors ignored that advice, then a detailed explanation of the “like for like” claim should appear as a note to the accounts.
Oops, I guess they were hoping to get that in under the wire, buried in amongst COVID 19 news not sure how brexit will affect numbers though, perhaps clutching at straws there albeit the Joining member numbers went up!
So that leaves only three possibilities, either fees were reduced, the auditors had a slip of the pen and missed a mill or oooh!