foxtons
every person who works at foxtons makes a difference. hear what they have to say about working at foxtons .
michael brown joined foxtons in september 2002 as chief operating officer of foxtons and chief executive officer of alexander hall .
uk estate agent foxtons makes $ 1. 2 billion stock market debut | reuters
foxtons produces a dedicated lettings magazine for londoners and opens its sixth office in putney .
foxtons … coming to a neighbourhood near you. photograph: dan kitwood / getty images
foxtons hired credit suisse, numis securities and canaccord genuity to handle the ipo in june .
foxtons chief executive nic budden blamed “unprecedented economic and political uncertainty” for the fall in profits .
1991 marks a change in branding for foxtons with the introduction of the first roundel logo design .
1996 sees foxtons move into north london with offices in st john' s wood and hampstead .
a foxtons estate agent sign is seen outside a branch in north london september 3, 2013 .
a foxtons car passes a branch of the estate agents in chelsea west london september 4, 2013 .
foxtons: london estate agents, uk. properties for sale, london rentals, short lettings and new homes
foxtons helped me to sell my home of many years. they understood the emotional attachment, as well the practical reasons for selling. even after a couple of setbacks everyone at foxtons stayed enthusiastic and interested .
foxtons said it was well placed to
benefit from any future recovery in the residential property sales market
.
foxtons open offices in dulwich and pinner, bringing the total number of offices to 23. both offices launch with foxtons' trademark 0% commission offer. urltoken wins more prestigious awards, including best estate agency website in the uk .
in early 2001 foxtons opened its state - of - the - art headquarters in chiswick, west london. at foxtons hq, hundreds of business professionals provide a vital support service enabling our front offices to focus on what they do best: selling and letting property. 2001 also sees the first branded foxtons minis zipping around the capital, prompting many imitations .
thank you to the foxtons agent who found me a great apartment. i needed to find an apartment in 2 weeks and foxtons found me a home just like i wanted. very efficient service, great communication and excellent customer experience .
profits at london - focused estate agent foxtons have plunged by 64% , hurt by slowing demand and increased economic uncertainty .
foxtons chief executive michael brown stands to pocket 52. 3 million pounds from reducing his stake to 8. 1 percent .
foxtons' s american operation started as the independent company urltoken and was later bought by mr. hunt' s business .
foxtons' executive directors, who are reported to have own as 20pc of the equity, will also be able to sell shares .
foxtons opens a new office in camden and relaunches their successful website, scooping more awards in the process. space mini was launched !
foxtons saw profits recover to £16. 7 million in 2009 after the slumping housing market pushed it into the red the previous year .
the company was part of foxtons ltd. until earlier this year, when the london - based parent accepted a buyout offer from the british firm, bc partners ltd. foxtons' s british founder, jon hunt, retained the american branches as part of the transaction .
foxtons paid real estate agents a salary and a 3% commission rather than the traditional 6% , according to its web site. the idea failed to catch on because agents from other companies, who worked solely on commission, were reluctant to show homes listed by foxtons .
we regret what has happened. we regret that tim' s friends at foxtons can' t really speak to him any more. we regret we have upset foxtons, and regret the costs on our side. it is going to be damaging financially to the company .
in 2009, the office for fair trading successfully sued foxtons for extracting
unfair
charges from landlords. no matter how the latest lettings dispute concludes, it is a reminder that foxtons is more vulnerable than it looks. for foxtons, as for many british companies founded in the thatcher era, new ways of doing things and a measure of ruthlessness have brought success; but of a volatile sort - and at a cost .
foxtons’ pre - tax profits in the first half dropped to £3. 8m from £10. 5m in 2016. photograph: alicia canter for the guardian
foxtons’ offering, which was oversubscribed, raised 335 million pounds for selling shareholders, including majority owner private equity group bc partners, and company employees .
in july, draker allegedly emailed at least 31 landlords on the database, announcing the new company in competition with foxtons and touting for their business .
foxtons, known for its distinctive fleet of branded mini coopers, is floating at a time when data points towards an revival in the uk housing market .
foxtons is suing a former senior director and his partner amid claims they stole the property giant' s secret client list to set up a rival agency .
foxtons is suing mr hassell, mr andrew and draked for alleged infringements, including breach of contract and confidence, procurement, conspiracy and breach of copyright .
a spokesman for foxtons said :
because we are in the legal process at the moment it is not appropriate to comment until it is concluded .
he was appointed as chief executive officer of the group in 2007 when bc european capital acquired a majority interest in the foxtons business. michael started his career as a solicitor at slaughter and may. prior to joining foxtons, michael spent 6 years at enron europe as general counsel and latterly as chief operating officer .
crumbs. i guess a lot of people just want a piece of that foxtons magic. yes. or a pile of cash. traders clearly expect the london property market to continue on its recent trend of rapid growth, and foxtons plan to take advantage by opening loads of more branches over the next five years .
foxtons was founded with a single branch in notting hill in 1981 by entrepreneur jon hunt and quickly became one of the most recognised high - street estate agents .
a revival in foxtons' fortunes recently has reportedly prompted the company to buy back around £20 million of debt in the firm it lost control of last year .
i joined foxtons in 2011, just after my a - levels. my sister, who was an intern at the time, introduced me to the company and although i had a small amount of sales experience from part time retail roles, it wasn' t essential as foxtons invest training in you from day one. more
bc partners, which oversees a €5. 8bn (£5. 2bn) fund, lost control of foxtons after creditors reorganized the real estate broker’s debt last month .
the opening of new offices continued into 2011 with blackheath, marylebone and stratford. foxtons awarded best lettings agency of the year at the prestigious sunday times property awards .
revolutionising the rental industry, my foxtons is upgraded to offer tenants and landlords the option of setting up their new tenancies online, vastly speeding up the rental process .
since david cameron became prime minister in 2010, foxtons has almost doubled its number of branches, and more than trebled its annual profits, to £42m. when foxtons became a public company in 2013, it was initially valued at £650m; within six months, demand for its shares had swelled that value to £1. 1bn .
working at foxtons is energetic, sociable and rewarding. we reward hard work, providing the opportunity for talented and enthusiastic individuals to thrive in an incentive driven environment .
foxtons was founded in notting hill gate, london, as a two - person estate agency determined to make its mark on the local property scene by doing things differently .
foxtons creates an innovative, animated 3d property search which lets you' fly' between properties, adds google street view to properties on urltoken and wins more prestigious awards .
both have seen their shares rise more than 50 percent since going public, but some investors said last week foxtons was late to the party and too exposed to london .
foxtons' approach was really professional and effective. i appreciated your endeavours in finding me a suitable place to live in. unfortunately a better value / money option arose elsewhere .
he set up a second branch in fulham and hired rollings. by this time the hunt / foxtons philosophy was already well ingrained: work longer, sell harder, do whatever it takes to get the business and then sell the property. foxtons' internal motto was already in place :
our clients want us to go to war for them
.
this month a larger threat to the company emerged. chris townley, a former landlord of a property managed by foxtons, became the first claimant in a c lass action against the estate agent. it alleges that foxtons has overcharged landlords for repairs and maintenance, by deliberately hiring expensive contractors, and then adding to their bills an undeclared commission of up to a third. townley' s solicitors, leigh day, claim that foxtons could face a cumulative legal bill of up to £42m - the equivalent of its entire 2014 annual profit .
the opening of new offices continued into 2013 with brixton, barnet, enfield, hackney, west end, twickenham and crystal palace. foxtons also had a successful ipo in september .
right. and of foxtons in particular? apart from their fouling of london with smug shops and tacky minis, their history of overvaluing houses and faking signatures, as exposed by the bbc in 2006, and recent allegations they lock rental clients into exorbitant utilities contracts from which foxtons themselves take commission (bbc again), i' ve got no problem with them .
foxtons, the upmarket estate agent, has formally announced its intention to float and raise £55m from the sale of new shares as it looks to take advantage of the recovering housing sector .
in the longer term, while recent political events have produced uncertainty for buyers and sellers, foxtons said it expected london to remain a highly attractive property market for both sales and lettings .
a discount realtor that brokered home sales for a 3% commission, foxtons, shut its american operations and may file for bankruptcy amid the slowing housing market. the company laid off 350 of 380 employees, west long branch, new jersey - based foxtons said thursday in an e - mailed statement. it had realty offices in new york, new jersey and connecticut .
by january last year, foxtons had breached its loan covenants. bank of america and mizuho financial group arranged £270m of leveraged loans to fund the buyout, according to data compiled by bloomberg .
we recently sold our house though foxtons. i was impressed with the marketing of our house across london and the amount of interest that was quickly generated. a very good service .
once known for its pioneering coffee shop - style outlets and fleet of mini cars, foxtons floated in 2013 ahead of a market peak and has since failed more than once to meet market expectations .
we are recognised for being highly motivated, ambitious and hard - working. every person who works at foxtons makes a difference to our company. do you have what it takes to join us ?
mark joined foxtons as chief financial officer in november 2016. prior to joining foxtons, mark held a number of positions at ftse 250 recruitment business hays plc. after early roles in internal audit and as head of m & a, mark became european finance director in 2006, in which he was responsible for businesses across 15 countries. in 2011 mark was appointed as group financial controller, a position in which he acted as deputy group finance director and held until joining foxtons. mark has extensive international experience across many areas of finance and over ten years' experience working in an agency business .
nowadays, foxtons sometimes presents itself as an ethical business. a recent advertisement for a
graduate property consultant
says that
a clearly defined moral compass is a must
, and that the company is
an environment where we compete … but support each other
. yet foxtons' approach to outside scrutiny makes such claims hard to judge .
we don' t do interviews ,
nicky chute, the company' s head of communications, told me when i contacted her. foxtons' current ceo, nic budden, she went on ,
is a fairly private person
.
dealing with foxtons was a pleasure throughout the process of selling my flat in putney. excellent in proving regular updates and following up on all open items with the solicitors and with the buyers .
daniel bellau, head of corporate at law firm hamlins, said :
foxtons' ipo may be taken as an indicator of renewed confidence in the uk residential market, especially as it comes just months after rival estate agency countrywide’s return to the stock exchange. yet foxtons is a london - based agency and this ipo may well say more about the london real estate market than the wider national market .
the offer price valued foxtons at around 18 times next year’s forecast earnings, compared with 17 times for countrywide and a median of around 12. 3 times for uk housebuilders, according to thomson reuters data .
the brixton anti - foxtons campaign has continued to escalate regardless. in july 2013, protesters managed to get into the branch and unfurl a
yuppies out
banner. this april, the branch was briefly occupied again by demonstrators holding placards that read
social housing not social cleansing
. a few weeks later, during a generally peaceful anti - gentrification march on 25 april, half the frontage of foxtons was smashed in .
) enjoyed a strong stock market debut on friday, seeing its stock rise well above its offer price in what could be seen as a vote of confidence in the housing market particularly in london where foxtons is focused .
whilst studying my geography degree at bristol university i had become very interested in many aspects of the uk property market. i was recommended by friends and family to apply for a summer internship at foxtons... more
foxtons said pre - tax profits in the first half of this year dropped to £3. 8m from £10. 5m in the same period of 2016. group revenue fell 15% to £58. 5m in the period .
bc, which ceded control of foxtons to its lenders in 2010 before taking majority ownership again last year, is on track to make a return of close to three times its investment, a person familiar with matter said .
mr andrew, 37, described in court papers as mr hassell' s
husband and business partner
, would have known the information was confidential and conspired to use it steal foxtons' business, the papers state .
my recent experience of selling a property with foxtons was a very positive one. understandably selling a property is a stressful period, therefore having a professional and a proactive agent is a must. thank you very much !
now foxtons is demanding a minimum of £300, 000 in damages from mr hassell and mr andrew, a co - director and shareholder of the new firm, who is also the chief executive of a boutique wealth management company .
he said the couple are now in the final stages of negotiations with foxtons to reach an out - of - court settlement .
we are trying to settle so it does not have to go to court ,
he said .
before joining foxtons i worked for a large, well known, international agency where i worked my way up to being an associate of the firm. although i was happy in my previous company i wanted something more challenging... more
foxtons claims mr hassell has so far admitted obtaining the business of one its landlords, a mr l neumann, to the value of nearly £2, 000, and it believes draker has many more
poached
clients on its books .
the opening of new offices continued into 2012 with london bridge, crouch end, pimlico & westminster, earlsfield and shepherds bush. foxtons launched a new service which introduces the ability for landlords and tenants to conduct their rental deals completely over the web .
before foxtons i was working in the affordable housing sector in scotland where i was born and raised. in 2004 i graduated from queen margaret uni in edinburgh where i specialised in housing studies and developed a passion for the property market... more
the 32 - year - old was an operations director and lettings manager with 12 years at foxtons but resigned in january and started a rival business with his partner, christopher andrew. the business specialised in rental properties in chelsea, belgravia and kensington .
it focuses on property sales of between £200, 000 and £1. 4m - a price range that made up 78pc of london sales in 2012 - and operates 40 foxtons branches in london, two in surrey, and one alexander hall office in london .
i' m so pleased i chose foxtons! my property was given a great valuation - and sold quickly, the perfect outcome. you were fantastic throughout - giving great advice, keeping me fully informed and acting efficiently and with great professionalism .
a general view of foxtons estate agent on brixton high street on august 14, 2013 in london, england. according to figures released yesterday by the office for national statistics, londons house prices are rising at an 8. 1 per cent annual rate .
previous revelations about foxtons' s illegal fly - boarding and other dubious business practices have done nothing to hinder its inexorable growth. the simple practice of overvaluing properties continues to pull in clients, even if those high prices are not then achieved at sale .
a similar surface orderliness - with its implication that foxtons will bring order to the messy property market - marks the company' s carefully choreographed initial dealings with clients. if you phone a branch as a new customer, you will quickly be redirected to the in - house call centre at headquarters in chiswick. there, a
new business consultant
, always polite, usually well - spoken and slightly caffeinated - sounding - red bull is popular with foxtons staff - will try to extract personal details from you .
i graduated from loughborough university with a degree in printed textiles. that summer, i applied for a role as a tenancy manager with foxtons. my only previous office experience was a two month summer placement working in marketing for a wholesale company... more
a few months later, in 2008, for the first time in a decade and a half, london property prices began to drop. for the next three years, foxtons suffered collapsing sales and staff culls. there were hasty and acrimonious shifts of ownership between bc partners and the banks that had lent it the money to buy the company. at bc partners, senior people began referring to foxtons as
the f word
. there were predictions in the press - sometimes thinly disguised hopes - that it would go bust .
after building up the company for 26 years, employing 1, 600 people in london and 500 in the us, hunt sold foxtons in 2007 for £370 million to private equity firm bc partners, just weeks before the credit crunch hit and the property market slumped .
“our strengths and future potential lie behind the capital reorganisation, and we are delighted we will continue to have the support of bc partners and our banks going forward, ” foxtons chief executive officer michael brown said in a statement posted on bc partners’ website on dec 31 .
in july foxtons opened a new office in the business heart of docklands at 20 canada square in canary wharf. further offices opened in kingston, guildford and woking marking the start of an expansion into surrey. 2006 also saw the punk mini hit the streets of london .
foxtons has a more individualistic culture than its rivals, who generally pay higher basic salaries and sometimes hand out commission on a team basis. at foxtons branches, the negotiators' telephones are arranged facing each other, in gladiatorial rows. despite this, or perhaps because of it, the young men in suits are always ducking outside to make calls. in 2006, anna adams, an undercover reporter for the bbc1 series whistleblower, filmed a friday meeting where, when individuals' sales or lettings figures were announced under - performers were heckled .
foxtons, which last year earned more than half its revenue from its lettings business, is focused on expansion within london, home to 40 of its 42 branches, and has said it is aiming for five to 10 new branch openings a year between 2014 and 2018 .
“we remain the largest shareholder, but decisions will require the input of all parties, ” andrew newington, a partner at bc partners in london, told bloomberg on friday. bc partners has “no overall control” over foxtons, he added. he declined to give further details .
sales revenue crashed 29% to £22. 2m in the period, with foxtons saying the performance was set against a surge in the first quarter last year, when transactions were brought forward ahead of the stamp duty surcharge on buy - to - let investments and second homes .
in early 2010 foxtons launched its new' x - ray mini' which was created in collaboration with one of the uk' s most exciting contemporary artists, nick veasey. new offices were also opened in north finchley, temple fortune, streatham, willesden green and clerkenwell .
as a result of my hard work, i have been lucky enough to go to top restaurants in london, drive amazing super cars and visit several international destinations. most importantly though, i have learnt invaluable skills at foxtons and am still looking forward to new challenges ahead .
there was already a foxtons in nearby beckenham. what if, i asked, a property came on the market midway between the two branches? which one would deal with the seller and any buyers? she instantly turned deadpan :
it depends on who they call first .
in the 469 - acre gardens once landscaped by capability brown, hunt is recreating more than a mile of the original lakes, a bridge, boathouses and a new garden of fanned grass terraces. it was at heveningham that steve hewitt, who has convictions for theft and violence and had allegedly been hired by foxtons to tear down rival agents' for sale boards, suffered a serious accident while riding quad bikes with hunt. he then sued hunt, but the foxtons boss was cleared of any blame for the accident after his lawyers accused hewitt of blackmailing him .
after graduating from university with a 2: 1 in forensic biology i was unsure what to do next. i went for my interview at the foxtons headquarters and as soon as the lift doors opened i knew that this was the company i wanted to work for... more
in papers filed at the high court, foxtons accuses the couple of stealing
large amounts
of information relating to 2, 500 clients, including the addresses of properties, landlords' bank and contact details, rental figures, fees charged and start and end dates for tenancies .
the float marks a milestone for bc, which has had a chequered history with foxtons since first buying it for about 360 million pounds in 2007. the agency came to epitomize the woes of the private equity industry as plummeting sales pushed it into breach of the terms on its debt .
prior to joining foxtons, nic had an international career in business development, operations, marketing, strategy and finance, having held positions at bt group plc (1990 to 1997), cable & wireless group (1997 to 2002) and severn trent group (2003 to 2005) .
foxtons recruits constantly and unfussily for its junior positions .
sales experience is beneficial but not essential ,
says a recent ad for a
trainee property negotiator
. burgess remembered her fellow interviewees as
from all over the country, from scotland, from wales, from tiny villages. quite well - educated people, and people who had dropped out of uni. foxtons said to us,' we' ll give you a car and a phone. you' ll get to know london like the back of your hand.' and it gave you a friendship group .
bc partners acquired foxtons, known for its fleet of green mini coopers used by employees to show houses and apartments, in may 2007 for £390m, in one of private equity' s most ill - timed deals – just as the london housing market slumped, slowing the number of home sales .
i graduated in 2005 from kingston university with a degree in sociology and began my foxtons career as an office co - ordinator in the putney office. one of the best things about the role was that i was part of a fantastic office, helping to make it run smoothly... more
very impressed with the service - our flat was let to a high calibre tenant within 4 working days of us instructing - before it was even photographed and advertised online. foxtons were extremely helpful, courteous and very quick to respond to calls and emails, which was great for us as first time landlords .
i have been helped by klaudia to find a place in shoreditch / hoxton area. i just wanted to highlight that she has been amazing during the whole process. very helpful and full of knowledge. even though i have found a place with foxtons stoke newington i would like to give a feedback about how amazing she was .
really professional and friendly service throughout! joshua has been wonderful in helping me find my first home and supporting me through the sometimes - stressful process. he' s been approachable, knowledgeable and quick in dealing with my queries and meeting my needs. i am completely satisfied with how everything has turned out thanks to josh and foxtons !
foxtons seems to have two modes: either overconfident expansion or panicky retrenchment. since 2011, as the london house price bubble has reinflated, the business has resumed its upward path. but now it is a public company, with a fickle share price, and more of the detail of the estate agent' s performance is publicly available
burgess' s workplace still took some adjusting to .
it was so clean. in a foxtons branch, you will not find a piece of paper anywhere. you' re not allowed to leave anything on your desk - everything gets cleared away every night. and you move desks every few weeks. you never feel you can relax .
right from my first contact with foxtons to the sale of our house the service was first class and we cannot praise natalie and ben enough they were extremely professional and very helpful too. natalie and ben kept us informed every step of the way and this made such a difference to the whole experience making it far less stressful than it could have been .
the company declined to comment
on the specifics of this case
; but went on to say that
our fees are clearly laid out within our terms and conditions
; and that work on properties let through foxtons was carried out by
carefully vetted and trusted contractors
who offered
competitive value
. the case may end up in court next year .
foxtons even advised tony and cherie on the purchase of their £3. 65m property in connaught square, and then won the job of letting it, presumably claiming they could get the eye - popping £15, 000 a month. predictably, and embarrassingly for the blairs, this was later reduced to £8, 000 to get shot of it after a dearth of takers .
i graduated from leeds university with an economics and philosophy joint honours degree in 2004. after travelling for a month, i returned to london and started researching job opportunities. the graduate recruitment advertisement described foxtons as an innovative, young and highly driven sales company. this, coupled with the opportunity to earn a very competitive salary - at 21 years of age - meant i was sold !
i got at least three or four phone calls today ,
an attorney in the queens borough of new york city who represented sellers listing property with foxtons, richard lovell, said .
they were all very concerned. it' s going to make the logistics more complicated. the attorneys and buyers and sellers are going to have to jump in and do a little more work .
this rigid singlemindedness saw him lose his long - time right - hand man, last year - managing director peter rollings. foxtons' seemingly softer public face and fixer used to deal with the all too regular complaints and is no doubt sorely missed at the moment as dirty secrets such as the doctoring of landlord agreements, lying to customers, and inflating values are caught on camera for the first time .
eight months after the broadcast, and after threatening the bbc with lawsuits, hunt admitted to the guardian that there were
several things we had done in [ the documentary ] that were wrong
. but he went on ,
i don' t think [ they ] were pervasive … and we straightened those out .
he dismissed the allegation that foxtons and alexander hall illegally shared information as
total nonsense
.
but even the briefest of conversations with him quickly demonstrates that behind the white - tooth smiles, there is an inner steeliness that has made him top dog in the world' s most vibrant residential property market. as the head of one rival agency, ivor dickinson at douglas & gordon, has observed, fellow estate agents are
very scared
of criticising foxtons .
it' s like being rude about the kray twins .
a single big sale in nearby knightsbridge kept foxtons afloat. in 1982, with the economy finally growing again, as the thatcher government' s heavy - handed move away from manufacturing towards property and service industries belatedly began to yield results, the one - year - old estate agent opened a second office, in nearby fulham: like notting hill an inner - city area that was part of the emergent, glossier london. hunt also hired a lieutenant, peter rollings .
but then foxtons' owner and chairman, jon hunt, who last year moved into
billionaires' row
in kensington palace gardens and promptly restyled himself jonathan, is not a man to be embarrassed by his employees. not unless they start to affect business, that is. and in the past few days staff say there have, astonishingly, been no signs of that .
far from it ,
says one employee ,
it' s as if the publicity has helped us .
so, although last week' s docu - mentary caught some of foxton' s less admirable practices on film, it may not spell disaster for the agency at all. those who use foxtons probably even expect their estate agent to be less than perfectly honest - so long as it negotiates the best price. as one admirer of hunt' s puts it :
he has a way of doing business that doesn' t appeal to everyone but certainly works. he doesn' t need to be liked to succeed .
in 2005, hunt' s lieutenant peter rollings left to set up a competitor, marsh & parsons. by 2007 even hunt had had enough .
i was working 14 hours a day … i was in my 50s and it' s a young man' s game ,
he told business life later. he sold his creation to a private equity firm, bc partners, and shifted his energies to renovating heveningham hall, a country estate in suffolk, successfully investing his foxtons fortune in london property and, as if awarding himself a final
car target
, collecting ferraris .
overall last year, foxtons earned £60m in commission, and even after hunt paid himself a £4m dividend (plus a £302, 171 salary) it made £1. 78m in profits. now said to be worth £350m, at first sight the reclusive 52 - year - old does not cut an imposing figure. slightly built, obsessively neat, with understated suits and ties, he is rarely photographed and has gone to great lengths to keep his name, and especially his wife and their four children, out of the press. so it is not unknown for him to be mistaken by visitors for a junior employee .
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urltoken
private equity firm bc partners loses control of london estate agent, less than three years after buying it for £390m .
the london - focused company, majority owned by private equity firm bc partners, said the offer would comprise new shares as well as a partial share sale by a bc partners - controlled unit, adnams bbpm holdings .
proceeds from the initial public offering will be used to pay down all the estate agent' s outstanding debt, the company said in stock market statement .
earlier this month, two of the private equity backers of countrywide – which floated in march – tapped into investor appetite for housing - related shares by selling down part of their stakes in the estate agency earlier than agreed .
countrywide shares have performed strongly since the initial public offering. they were sold at 350p but closed at 586½p on friday, a jump of 68pc .
housebuilder crest nicholson also floated in february and achieved a top of the range valuation of £550m. like countrywide, its shares have also performed well since the ipo and have surged 50pc
first - half revenue at the group rose 10. 5pc to £62. 6m, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose 14. 3pc to £19. 4m .
the business has already made a fortune for its founder jon hunt, who set up the company in 1981 in notting hill gate and sold the business on to bc partners for about £375m, a matter of months before the housing market crashed .
the buy - out group later lost control of the company after it breached the terms of its debt, but bought back a majority stake last year .
the move is being read as another sign of improving activity in the housing market, after a slew of data has in recent months pointed to rising prices and .
our purchaser had a slightly complicated background and you managed the process extremely well and were relentless in keeping contact with both myself and the buyer to push the transaction along, critical to holding the chain together .
we are a voluntary member of the key governing bodies, abiding by the strictest codes of practice .
we also believe in fee transparency, helping you make informed decisions with no last minute surprises .
we understand that getting an update on your property' s value or rental potential can help you make better informed long - term decisions .
we are a voluntary member of the key governing bodies, abiding by the strictest codes of practice .
our purchaser had a slightly complicated background and you were relentless in keeping contact with both myself and the buyer to push the transaction along, critical to holding the chain together .
excellent communication throughout the transaction. kept me informed and liaised really well with all parties to conclude my sale at its earliest opportunity .
antoniya was helpful in finding us a rental apartment. she responded quickly to our enquiries, whether by phone or email and was practical in setting up the viewings and finalising the offer and contract .
searching for my new place within 2 weeks time, which is obviously too short, and having visited about 40 flats - having had many contact with other agencies as well, i want to highlight that the service that you have provided was exceptional. many thanks especially to antoniya, who filtered properties perfectly, showed many good options and was in general very supportive and most professional. her management and communication skills are absolutely outstanding. looking forward to the next flat search with you guys, the effort is absolutely appreciated .
gavie was enthusiastic and helpful throughout the process and it would have been a lot slower without him .
matthew showed myself and my boyfriend around several properties and couldn' t do enough to make the whole process easy for us! he had a great attitude (even when we were indecisive and changing our minds about things) and went out of his way to find us other suitable properties and offer advice. thanks for all your help !
matthew was excellent. he did everything within his power to make the booking work, was available at all hours (including sunday), was extremely flexible with viewings and worked extremely hard to fit my criteria. he is a brilliant employee and i hope he gets recognition for this !
estate agents often get a bad press but my dealings with ashraf in the shoreditch office reassured me that there are some great agents out there. ashraf was very helpful throughout the purchasing process and went out his way to make sure the transaction was as smooth as possible .
eleonora from the shoreditch branch was the best agent we have had. found exactly what we were looking for, arranged great viewings and was extremely kind .
eleonora was an excellent agent. would recommend her specifically to friends. she did a fantastic job .
service was excellent. alex was always available to update me during the whole sale process, making everything run nicely and smoothly, from flat viewings to completion .
eleanora was a fantastic, warm, caring and honest person who went out of her way to help me. exceptional person and excellent service from the get go .
helen found us a property that most closely match our criteria. it was indeed close to what we were looking for, we just ended up choosing something we felt was more value for money. still helen, did not push us in any way and in any step of the process - always calling to check in but with no pressure. also, helen was kind enough to drive us home after the viewing. very, very nice overall
we had a great experience looking for a new home. eleonora took care of all our needs and questions and understood clearly what we are looking for. we were very happy to have her as a lettings agent and we' d happily contact her if we were to look for new apartment again. thank you .
the best estate agent i have worked with so far. very professional. brilliant with communication. shelley sold our house and at the time of the viewings i had a baby only a few weeks old and she made sure she always did viewings around feeding and nap times. natalie has been great in keeping us updated and our buyers happy. thank you all .
thank you so much for your efforts. communication between natalie and her team and myself was brilliant. always called back when they said they would. natalie and her team were very professional. i wish natalie and her team all the best for the future .
shelley has been brilliant throughout the whole process and is a genuinely nice person and easy to do business with. natalie has been super and kept us informed all the way through .
the company has been warning since 2014 that double - digit price rises and strong demand in london were cooling, hitting its profits .
budden said in march that the london market was “severely impacted” by the brexit vote, which he claimed had led to a “substantial reduction in property sales transactions” .
the numbers come after official figures showed annual house price growth cooled down further in may .
britain’s housing market has slowed sharply since last june’s vote to leave the eu, when prices were growing by almost 10% a year .
the uk’s third - largest housebuilder, taylor wimpey, said earlier that it believed the risk of material impact on the market from the eu referendum in the short term has significantly reduced .
revenue from lettings, a strong area for the firm that could be hit as the government introduces a ban on one - off tenant fees, fell by 2% to £32. 1m .
the letting fees, which are to cover the cost of conducting viewings, verifying references and drawing up contracts, have become an increasingly important money - earner for the industry, averaging £337 .
“as the lettings market grows, it is becoming more complex too, with significant new regulation, legislation and tax changes introduced in recent years, ” the company said in a statement .
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the estate agent has more haters than followers on twitter. now sales are falling, can it get a positive message across ?
estate agent’s pre - tax profit fell to £10. 5m in the first six months of year from £18. 1m a year earlier, with brexit uncertainty blamed
estate agent reported 28. 5% rise in property sales in first quarter amid rush to complete deals before deadline but brexit fears weigh down expectations
the flag - ship park lane office is opened to serve central london and a new office is also opened in islington .
the first café - style offices are launched in ealing, richmond, balham and wimbledon marking a turning point in the estate agency industry. in addition the hot rod mini was launched .
further café - style offices are opened in sloane square, muswell hill and shoreditch during 2004. in addition the hippy mini was launched .
the 2005 camo mini was inspired by contemporary london street fashion. urltoken is awarded many high profile awards, recognising innovation, quality and ease of use .
early 2014 saw the launch of our iconic' anniversary edition' mini design, plus new offices in beckenham, greenwich, earls court, harrow, stoke newington, tooting & wapping .
early 2015 saw the launch of new offices in barnes, walthamstow, west hampstead, ruislip and bromley. later in the year we opened offices in surbiton and croydon .
early 2016 saw the launch of new offices in loughton, sutton, new malden, fulham bishops park, maida vale, peckham & vauxhall .
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a house is seen on january 23, 2015 in an affluent area of west london, england .
jon hunt. he is a lean, reined - in man with a strong jaw, a drawling, slightly distant voice, and impatient, whirling hand gestures .
my old man was extremely tough ,
he told the website business life
.
he was irish and came to london when he was 13. he was a runner for a legal firm … then he got into the army .
hunt junior, born in 1953, soon learned to be just as adaptable and self - contained: while his father took up a succession of end - of - empire foreign postings, hunt was sent to millfield boarding school in somerset from the age of seven. he loved millfield' s emphasis on sport, but left the school at 16. he briefly joined his father' s regiment, the royal artillery, then moved on restlessly again, to work on building sites in france, and then back to england, to a job at a small estate agent in woking .
he was 18. it was the early 70s, the brief boomtime of edward heath' s doomed tory government, and one of britain' s periodic property bubbles was inflating. woking, wealthy in parts, full of lush properties, but with a london satellite town' s transient population, was a good place to learn the trade. hunt has a cautious side -
i will sit outside a property for six hours watching the traffic flow before i decide [ to buy it ] ,
he told the mail in 2009 - and he stayed in woking through the property collapse of the mid - 70s. he came to realise that the final stages of such downturns, when prices were low but had stopped falling, was a good time to buy and sell houses -
when there' s blood on the street but it' s drying
, as he put it in the mail .
burgess went to chiswick for an interview in 2011 .
the head office is so vibey when you' re 18 or 19 ,
she remembered .
there' s music playing. it' s colourful inside - bright green. everyone' s good - looking, everyone' s smartly dressed, everyone' s so happy! there' s buzzers going, people are collecting chocolates for making sales. you think,' this is a whole world i want to be part of.'
a row of houses are seen in london, britain june 3, 2015. british house prices rose at their slowest annual rate in nearly two years in may, as growth continued to moderate after double - digit increases in the middle of 2014, figures from mortgage lender nationwide showed on wednesday .
in its latest annual report, a small graph at the bottom of page 19 shows that since 2010, as the company has opened branches faster than ever, its average revenue has dropped year by year, and by more than a fifth overall .
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foxtons group plc is a british estate agency company dealing with both lettings and sales . it is listed on the london stock exchange . 
foxtons group plc is a british estate agency company dealing with both lettings and sales. it is listed on the london stock exchange.
foxtons group plc is a british estate agency company dealing with both lettings and sales. it is listed on the london stock exchange.