King Sturge powers past the £160 million mark
07 March 2007
Strong growth in UK core business, European and residential streams lift results
Joint Senior Partners Chris Ireland and Richard Batten
In its first annual report since converting to a Limited Liability Partnership, top independent property consultant King Sturge has revealed robust performance for the year ended 30 April 2006, delivering group turnover of £161.4 million (£134.7 million UK earnings, £26.7 million overseas earnings), a consolidated profit of £38.7 million, and a distributable profit of £30.4 million.
King Sturge is led by 256 partners, including 57 equity partners and currently employs 1,900 people across 47 European offices. Staff numbers grew by almost 13% overall (9% in the UK and 32% in Europe) during the year.
Average profits per equity partner from the firm’s UK partnership business reached £533,000, reflecting a range of £205,000 to £2.2 million on an individual basis; the highest paid salaried member of staff earned over £400,000.
King Sturge converted to limited liability status on 1 May 2005 and saw strong 2006 growth in its core UK business, which brought in £134.7 million in fees. While strict comparison with previous performance is difficult owing to the transition in accounting regime, this is equivalent to a 38% increase over the previous year. £26.7 million was earned from the firm’s overseas practice, a 59% increase over 2005.
Commercial highlights for the year included what was the UK’s largest commercial investment property transaction, where the firm advised ING on the acquisition of the £1.3 billion Abbey portfolio from Bank Santander, as well as the largest single transaction in the City, the purchase and subsequent disposal of Woolgate Exchange at £325 million on behalf of Bankhaus Woelbern. The firm strengthened its West End office proposition with the acquisition of Hanrahan Deane.
In addition to the firm’s strong financial performance, King Sturge attained 16th position in the Sunday Times’ top 100 Best Companies to Work for – 2006, and was awarded European Industrial Agency Team of the Year by Property Week at Expo Real in Munich. Commitments to Corporate Social Responsibility were launched during the year which will see fruition under seven distinct pillars of activity in 2007.
Joint Senior Partner, Richard Batten, said: "We have benefited from a focused business strategy which concentrates our resources on areas of acknowledged strength, benign market conditions and a superlative effort from all our people. It is not just about stellar investment performance: all parts of the business have contributed to the year’s success. By way of example, the firm’s recently established UK residential business is heading towards £17 million turnover in 2007 from a standing start in late 2003."
Fellow Senior Partner, Chris Ireland, added: "Although we felt that the year ending 2006 was an exceptional one, such is the growth that we are seeing in Europe, on top of a buoyant UK market we believe we are on course for £185 million in the year ending April 2007. This provides us with a fantastic platform to continue expanding the business across Europe."
