Savills raises roof with £93m bonanza

STAFF and shareholders at Savills will bag a £93m windfall after the property agency enjoyed its best ever year.

Some 40 agents, mostly London commercial property dealers, will take home bonuses of more than £250,000 each, part of a £70m firm-wide pool, chief executive Aubrey Adams confirmed.

Delivering forecast-busting full-year profits for 2004, Adams said this year had started 'fine', adding that the firm was 'looking confident' in London's booming market for investing in smart offices and the luxury homes market, where he predicted annual price rises of 4%-5%.

Savills sold 765 London homes last year, averaging £1.5m, up from 600 in 2003 after expanding its branch network. But completion times have slowed over the autumn and winter.

Commercial property investment head Simon Hope doubles his annual bonus to £2m. Half comes from booking a £10m gain for the firm after winding up its property trading and investment business. Another six commercial agents are in line for £1m.

Investors see a 36% rise in the full-year dividend to 18.5p, worth £11.2m, and get a £12.1m special divi, promised in December.

Pre-tax profits jumped to £50.2m for the year to end-December from £34.1m in 2003, flattered by one-off gains from trading investments but still 5% above analysts' forecasts.

'This is a lot better market even than the 1980s,' Adams said.