Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Foxtons Capital Markets Event. I'm Guy Gittins, CEO at Foxtons, and we are delighted to have you here, whether in person or virtually, to engage with the next chapter of Foxtons' growth story. I joined Foxtons as CEO in September 2022. Having started my career at Foxtons two decades earlier, I knew firsthand what this company was capable of. From the outside, I saw huge untapped potential, and from the inside, I see a team that I genuinely believe to be the best in the industry. Founded in Notting Hill in 1981, Foxtons has grown into an iconic brand with over 60 interconnected branches, offering best-in-class residential property services. Foxtons has always been built on innovation, ambition, and an unwavering commitment to deliver results.
At the start of 2023, we set out our vision to reestablish Foxtons as London's go-to agent, backed by a clear strategy and growth targets to ensure accountability. Over the last three years, we've completely reshaped our business, building resilience, accelerating growth, and reclaiming our position as London's number one estate agency brand.
Hi, I'm Catherine from Foxtons, and today we're at this fantastic apartment in Mandeville Courtyard.
Welcome to this incredibly light and spacious duplex penthouse.
Let's break down the key issues that every landlord needs to understand.
We've expedited home staging for landlords seeking top tenants and found same-day locksmiths for new homeowners' peace of mind.
Or you simply value a progressive approach to city living, why not consider Build to Rent?
Which looks particularly inviting on a beautiful day like today.
When you get the keys today, think about the work that's required to hit these targets.
The awards winners, please come to the stage.
Today we operate from a position of strength with a clear strategy for sustainable and scalable expansion. We've grown our non-cyclical, recurring, and resilient income streams for lettings and financial services from 50% historically to nearly 70% today, across 31,000 tenancies, all supported by a strong and growing share in sales. At the heart of this success are 1,400 dedicated individuals driven by a singular purpose: to get the right deal done for the property owners of London. With strong financial and operational foundations in place, we are now well positioned to capitalize on further opportunities in 2025 and beyond. My team and I will outline exactly how we plan to build on this momentum, delivering great results for our clients while creating long-term value for our shareholders. We are confident, we are ambitious, and we are ready to drive the next phase of Foxtons' growth.
I'm delighted to be joined by some of the Foxtons' senior leadership team today: Chris, our CFO; Fran, our MD of Property Management and Customer Experience; Gareth, our MD of Lettings; Imran, our Chief of Information and Technology; Richard, our MD of Financial Services; and Natalie, our HR Director. Between us, we have a combined total of nearly 100 years of Foxtons' experience, and this is what we'll each be covering today. In March 2023, we presented part one of our rebuild story, setting firm financial targets and a roadmap to deliver GBP 28 million-GBP 33 million of adjusted operating profit. Today, I'm pleased to confirm that those initial targets are now well within reach, despite a very challenging market backdrop for sales. The Foxtons you see today is fundamentally a different business to the one I rejoined almost three years ago.
We've pivoted aggressively to grow our resilient, recurring lettings revenue, fundamentally transforming our profit profile. That shift has positioned us for part two, the next stage of Foxtons' growth, and I'm delighted to reveal our new medium-term target to deliver GBP 50 million of AOP. Since 2021, we've more than doubled our profit, and our ambition is now to double it again in the next chapter of our growth. On this slide, it's possible to see the progress that we've made over the last three years: a 120% increase in AOP since the last full year before my return to Foxtons. This has been driven by significant gains in our market share as we became the fastest-growing estate agent in the U.K. Increases such as 38% for lettings and 40% for sales are completely unheard of for large agencies across the U.K.
The 38% growth in lettings market share is particularly impressive, given how rental contracts lock properties into contracts for anywhere between one to five years. We'll be able to give more color on how we build on this through our technology, data, and training later in the presentation. Our investment proposition can be distilled into three parts. We have the leading platform in our sector, as evidenced by our growth and trajectory over the last three years: powered by our people, our tech, and our data. We've grown our non-cyclical, recurring lettings earnings primarily in lettings, which now means that we have a highly resilient business, having decoupled our profitability from the sales market cycles. We have established a highly efficient, highly effective acquisitions engine that consistently delivers strong returns, demonstrating a strong track record of fully deploying our allocated acquisition funds year after year.
Ultimately, we have a strategy and operating model built for scalability. This is what makes our platform so unique. Number one, a tech advantage like no other. Foxtons has the most advanced, fully integrated CRM in the sector, built over the last 20 years by our dedicated in-house technology team. Unlike fragmented, off-the-shelf systems used by almost all of our competitors, our platform connects every single department in our business into a completely seamless ecosystem. We have the unique ability to design and deliver innovative products straight into the industry, and we can also scale and integrate acquisitions at a speed that our competitors simply cannot match. Foxtons has built a data powerhouse, capturing insights at every customer touchpoint over the last 20 years, with 1.6 billion data points and 4.5 million contacts.
Foxtons has the largest estate agency database in London, giving us an unmatched advantage when prospecting for pricing and for performance. To unlock its full potential, we have invested in building a state-of-the-art Microsoft Azure stack alongside a bespoke real-time data dashboard, which enhances transparency, optimizes performance, and drives efficiencies across every department in the business. Our AI-driven lead scoring system has boosted market share while cutting calls per valuations booked from 35 historically down to just 10.5 today. Looking ahead, our ability to leverage 20 years of viewing history, buyer and tenant journey, and granular feedback will create unparalleled insights with our customers, cementing our leadership far ahead of the market in the future. Foxtons is an iconic name, boasting the highest brand awareness in the U.K. estate agency arena.
We also have the most visited agency website by a significant margin, despite only operating really in and around London. We have a premium position that is sometimes that double of our competitors. Supported by high-impact marketing campaigns like We Get It Done and Ready Set Foxtons, we have strengthened engagement, reinforced our market position, and we have elevated our brand perception. Our highly scalable operating model allows us to grow revenue with minimal incremental costs, driving strong operating leverage from our central hub at Chiswick Park. Finally, our people, the most important asset for a business like ours. Our people are the driving force behind Foxtons. Over the last three years, we have rebuilt our employee value proposition, strengthening headcounts while raising the caliber of talent across the business. We have increased face-to-face training 10 times, ensuring that new negotiators ramp up productivity faster than ever before.
As a result, Foxtons is widely recognized for offering the best training in the industry and providing opportunities for fresh talents to join the profession. Rebuilding our culture has been a crucial focus. While great progress has been made, we know that there is more to do. When challenges arise, we tackle them head-on, driving accountability and embedding a values-led mindset across the organization. Change takes time, and we're committed to doing this properly. You'll hear more from Natalie, our HR Director, on how this journey continues. Some stats: we are proud to have reclaimed our position as London's number one sales and lettings brand for market share. Also, we are actually the number one lettings agent in the U.K. by listing volumes, despite only really operating in and around London.
Two and a half years ago, we completely changed our strategy to aggressively grow lettings revenue, both organically and through acquisition. On these three charts, you can see how we've accelerated lettings growth while also rebuilding the sales business, despite declining sales volumes in the market. Crucially, these recurring revenues are underpinning our profit growth, despite the cyclicality of the sales market. The outcome of this is a transformed resilience in our profitability. Foxtons continues to accelerate its acquisition strategy across the south of England, leveraging its industry-leading platform to unlock substantial synergies. With GBP 64 million invested in 11 acquisitions since 2020, we've paid an average of 2.9 times EBITDA multiples while delivering 54% margins. All of this has enabled us to be able to achieve an impressive 26% return on invested capital.
As with every decision in the business today, every acquisition is data-driven, ensuring strategic expansion in London and key commuter belt locations. Chris will cover this more later in the presentation. Here we are, our new medium-term targets for Foxtons' next phase of growth. Our strategy remains focused and proven, building on our strengths to drive the next level of expansion. For lettings, we aim to continue delivering organic growth ahead of the market and expand our highly successful acquisition strategy into key commuter locations and continuing to bolt on opportunities within London while maintaining lettings at around about two-thirds of total revenue. For sales, with our initial market share targets now achieved, we are focused on returning the business to profit within the next 18 months, as we push to ensure sales contribute positively to group profitability.
For financial services, where we must maximize all opportunities created by our estate agency operations and scale into a materially larger operation. Our new medium-term targets are GBP 240 million in revenue, GBP 50 million of AOP, a profit margin rising from 14% to 20%, and a stronger cash generation will fuel the acquisitions engine and shareholder returns. With clear financial goals, a proven execution, and an accelerating momentum, Foxtons is on track to more than double our profitability of the business over the medium term. I went through, talked through all of our tailwinds, but I think it is really worth highlighting that we feel the property market value is well underpinned as the fundamentals are not changing. Demand will be driven by population growth and supply constraints. This will also stimulate lettings demand and underpin pricing.
We expect lettings market to remain resilient and grow at least by inflation, while we are a little more bullish on the sales market recovery as interest rates reduce. It's important to note that Foxtons is most dominant in the volume and mid markets, a section where we see 85% of all transactions in the London market, meaning that we are not exposed to the considerable headwinds seen by some of the prime and super prime markets. With this in mind, we do see a market upside beyond our conservative financial modeling that could provide a significant profit upside. This left-hand side chart shows just why we love London properties so much and why we've specifically shifted our focus from sales to lettings. London's total commission value has grown at 4.6% CAGR since 2005.
Despite economic and political volatility, London's market has proven highly resilient and, as you can see, almost entirely driven by lettings, where the value has increased by 400% over that period. On the right side, you can see the massive consolidation opportunity. There are 3,600 agents operating within the M25 today, yet the top 50 agents only control half of the market, with a very long tail of independent agencies. London remains Foxtons' core market, where acquisitions within the M25 integrate rapidly and deliver fast shareholder returns. We are equally as excited about expansion into high-value commuter belt locations, where demand and lettings volume create significant opportunities. A prime example of this is the Imagine Property Group that we acquired in Watford, a leader in their share in lettings.
Since joining Foxtons last year, their market share is now growing at its fastest rate ever, thanks to our CRM-driven efficiencies, some bolt-on acquisitions that we've been able to complete, and our brand strength, which has significantly increased average fees for their new business. Our data-led strategy pinpoints high-growth locations, leveraging sector fragmentation where we see that M&A activity is booming, fueled by retiring business owners and increasing regulation. Looking ahead, we need minimal additional investment to be able to scale our platform further. 50% of our acquisitions are actually secured off-market directly with business owners, and we're targeting 20% return on invested capital through our buy, bolt, and build strategy. The industry consolidation, combined with Foxtons' platform, means that we are well positioned for growth.
On this side, you can see just how much more opportunity there is when we open up new markets, taking the total addressable lettings, sales, and financial services commission from GBP 2 billion to a potential GBP 3.5 billion. Now I'll hand over to Imran to talk more about our tech advantage.
Thank you, Guy. Good morning, everyone. I'm Imran Soomro, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Foxtons. I joined Foxtons 21 years ago, leading transformation in IT operations. I later was promoted to Chief Information and Technology Officer in 2018. Today, I'll show you how our technology and data strategy isn't just supporting our business; it's powering our growth. Estate agency, at its core, is a complex B2C process. The pace is relentless, and the expectations are high. Success requires operational agility, data-driven insights, and continuous innovation. Where most see complexity and friction, we see opportunities. At Foxtons, technology isn't seen as an add-on. It's an engine of growth, resilience, and a genuine competitive advantage. We've invested in a bespoke in-house tech stack that's AI-enabled and uniquely tailored to solve these industry challenges and unlock new growth levers for the business. At the heart of our business is our platform.
We've built from the ground up over 23 years to address the unique flows of estate agency. Our platform is the gatekeeper to the entire process, from initial lead generation all the way through to completion, aftercare, and retention. Underpinning all of this is Boss, our business operating system software, which is continuously developed by our talented in-house team and integrated into our data platform, delivering data-driven insights, hosted securely on Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure. Collectively, our core team brings over 200 years of Foxtons' experience. We have deep industry knowledge and a proven track record that's central to our ability to innovate and execute. We've designed a system that bends to our business model, not the other way around. It's built for today's needs, but also ready for tomorrow's innovation. Let me bring that to life.
Think of Boss not as a tool, but as the brain of Foxtons, a fully integrated real-time engine that powers every corner of our business. From marketing and lead generation to sales, lettings, finance, and compliance, everything flows seamlessly. There are no manual handoffs, no gaps, no rekeying of data, just one connected system driving performance. This means our staff spend less time wrestling with admin and more time doing what they do best: winning business, serving customers, and building relationships. Crucially, the whole thing is built to scale, supporting both organic growth and M&A, whether it is one branch or hundreds. Because our architecture is modular and open, when we acquire a new business or open new branches, integration is not a headache. We have a track record of integrating acquisitions faster than anyone else in the industry, bringing new businesses onto our platform, realizing value within days, not months.
At Foxtons, it's a proven playbook: plug in, onboard, and realize synergies in costs and revenue. In today's market, that speed is a real competitive advantage. We're embracing the data revolution. Here's how we're building a truly data-led business. We operate a scalable cloud platform that unifies more than 20 years of rich transactional data. At Foxtons, we are building a data culture. Real-time KPIs and dashboards are embedded across every part of the business, empowering every team to act with real-time insights. Our roadmap includes developing advanced models to boost productivity and return on investment. Predictive analytics are going to be designed directly into daily workflows, equipping our agents to make smarter decisions. All of our technology is underpinned by a strong security-first mindset. We employ advanced cybersecurity controls and maintain a defense-in-depth approach throughout. We're not chasing hype.
We're focused on piloting and scaling AI solutions where they deliver real, measurable ROI. This isn't about technology for its own sake. It's about making the business stronger and smarter at every turn. Here's what that looks like in action. Our propensity modeling predicts which properties are likely to come to market before they've listed, cutting valuation calls by 50%. Our real-time touting engine targets prospects instantly, driving up conversion rates and contributing to 25% of sales and lettings revenue in 2024. Machine learning optimizes canvassing, delivering a four-fold improvement in conversion rates over traditional randomized letter drops. By digitalizing the lettings process, we've streamlined the funnel, freed up our agents, and boosted productivity by 5%. With embedding leading AI solutions into property management, we've raised customer service standards, achieving 22% improvement in tenant satisfaction. Our tech isn't just clever.
It's delivering measurable, high-impact ROI at every stage of the journey, turning innovation into real business value. In short, we're not just keeping up. We're setting the pace. Thank you. Now I'll hand over to Fran, our MD of Property Management and Customer Experience.
Thanks, Imran. Hi, everybody. My name is Fran Giltinan. I joined Foxtons in 2002, and originally, I set up our talent acquisition and L&D department. Since 2021, I have led the property management teams and customer experience teams, driving a major shift towards a more customer-focused approach and restructuring property management to really boost service delivery and efficiency. Over the past 18 months, our CX strategy has evolved significantly so that we focus on developing landlord and tenant loyalty to ensure we maximize customer lifetime value, whilst also continuing to reinforce our reputation for innovation, market leadership, and consistent execution. At the core of this strategy is our commitment to building a customer-centric culture, one that delivers a premium service across multiple digital interactions and is augmented by a high-performing team of skilled agents and property managers.
Our approach will continue to evolve and is driven by real-time customer analytics, robust performance management, and best-in-class digital experiences continuously optimized to meet customer needs. We aim to support individuals throughout their entire property journey, acting as a trusted partner across all life stages. Our typical customer may begin as a tenant in their 20s, purchase their first home in their 30s, and become landlords by the time they're 40. What this does is present a multi-decade opportunity to drive recurring value across renting, buying, selling, and investing. It also allows us to cross-sell services such as mortgages, insurance, and property management, so we can really maximize revenue per customer and create a robust, diversified earning model. Let's look at James. He's a real-life Foxtons customer who started his journey with us in 2010. There we go.
Firstly, that's why we're investing a significant time and energy into perfecting the very start of the journey, because we know when we get it right, we don't just gain a tenant; we build a lifelong relationship. Secondly, our integrated estate agency model, spanning sales, lettings, and financial services, creates a seamless end-to-end experience that benefits both the client and our teams. Finally, our rich data and network of interconnected branches gives us a unique advantage. We can anticipate when someone is about to move from South Kensington to Camden so they can move from a flat to a house. This allows us to step in and guide their journey while maintaining continuity and care throughout. Now, in a market where property decisions are deeply emotional and complex, Foxtons is leading the way with a model based on data, innovation, and relationships.
As you've heard from Imran, we have a uniquely powerful tech stack that sets us apart in the industry. We also have an advanced voice-of-the-customer program. That gives us feedback at every critical stage of the journey and has driven a culture of continuous service improvement and allowed us to really deliver tailored coaching and training to our people. Now we're leveraging AI to generate far more proactive and real-time insights, so we no longer need to wait for our customers to reach out to us. AI has transformed our approach by listening to every interaction, analyzing tone, sentiment, and emotion. In property management alone, we received over 150,000 calls last year. Using AI, we can now identify friction points that previously went unnoticed.
This has had a direct impact on retaining landlords, improving tenant satisfaction, and a reduction in our headcount as we gain operational efficiency by reducing unnecessary inbound contact. We are also placing a really strong emphasis on our Net Promoter Score, NPS, as a key indicator of customer satisfaction and loyalty. This metric not only helps us understand how our clients feel about their experience, but also allows us to benchmark our performance against other leading service providers. We recognize that for landlords and tenants, loyalty is built on a foundation of trust and service excellence. Our commitment to excellence is reshaping expectations and setting a new standard for our industry. Finally, the portal. In an era of increased regulation and rising compliance standards, the ability to deliver a professional experience at scale is essential. Our portal boosts operational efficiency and also centralizes key financial and compliance documentation.
We resolve over 40,000 maintenance issues every single year. We know how many are triaged within 24 hours. We know our speed to resolve, and we can measure tenant and landlord satisfaction throughout the journey. With the imminent Renters' Rights Bill and decent home standards moving into the PRS, these metrics are not just a nice-to-have; they are now essential. We can also use our platform for behavioral nudges, i.e., nudging a landlord to buy rent protection or for a tenant to purchase contents insurance. In summary, for landlords and tenants transitioning from smaller agencies, all of this represents a significant upgrade. It brings previously hidden property management functions to the forefront, supported by real-time data and proactive service. We are a tech-enabled property partner delivering measurable outcomes, regulatory resilience, and enhanced customer retention at scale. That is it. Back to Guy, who is going to discuss our people initiatives.
Great. Thank you very much, Fran. The people at Foxtons are the driving force behind our success. When I joined the business two and a half years ago, it was clear that we needed to transform the culture. Since then, we've implemented sweeping changes to attract, support, and develop top talent, embedding recruitment, training, and retention as core priorities, with retention KPIs now integrated into leadership objectives. Culture is at the heart of our strategy, fueling ambition and driving performance, and also securing long-term success. Like all businesses, we face challenges and remain committed to continuous improvements to refine our people strategy over time. With the right team in place, we can deliver our GBP 50 million of AOP target with only limited levels of additional headcount investment. Foxtons is proud to be the employer of choice for those entering the industry.
Many of the most successful leaders in our industry started their career with Foxtons. We have a young, diverse workforce with team members from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. I'm proud of some of the results that we've already seen, with a 25% increase of female managers over the last three years. As a competitive, performance-driven sales organization, we recognize the need to provide an environment that fosters success, helping people thrive, earn well, and, of course, advance their careers. However, it doesn't come without its challenges, and we recognize that culture transformation is a continuous journey. We are fully committed to raising the bar, ensuring that Foxtons remains a place where talent grows, ambition is realized, and success is built. Now, let's hear directly from some of our people recorded as part of our renewed employee value proposition project last year.
Three words I would use to describe the culture at Foxtons would be ambitious, driven, and energetic.
They offer, in my opinion, one of the best training facilities out there in the industry. You are always going to be learning. On top of that, it is a really fun place and exciting place to work.
If you look right from the top to the bottom, I think everyone is quite similar. Yes, we're all races, different genders, come from different backgrounds.
Say the culture as well. Having so many different communities within Foxtons and having those support groups there, I think just elevates the life of Foxtons so much.
It's probably the best decision I've ever made because it's not just the job that you're taking on, it's the opportunity to be around people that can give you more opportunity.
A team player. You have to be a team player.
If you have the itch to be successful, come and join us.
Okay. Good morning, everyone. Just by means of introduction, my name is Natalie Booth, and I'm the HR Director at Foxtons. I've been in post for just over six months now, but this is not actually my first role within the business. Originally, I started as a graduate in 2009 in a sales role before transferring into a learning and development role. After seven years at Foxtons, I actually left, and I spent the following nine years at Berkeley Group PLC, the FTSE 100 house builder, in a variety of HR roles. Anyway, I'm thrilled to be back and to talk to you about my plans for our people and our culture. As we've heard in the EVP, our employees take immense pride in working here.
Initially, this project aimed to refine recruitment, but it became much more, and it ended up clarifying our unique position in both the estate agency and the graduate job markets, making our message really clear. Despite receiving up to about 80,000 job applications per year, we've sharpened efficiency and transparency, and this is through interviews and listening exercises. We've found four key themes that have emerged. People love working for us because we've got a unified mission, strategy, and values. That's a real golden thread that connects the whole company. We also have a high-performing, goal-driven sales culture, and this is a real energy that fuels success for everyone. As we know, and we've talked about already, we have industry-leading learning and development from day one and throughout people's careers. Finally, we work in a true meritocracy with rapid progression and transparent rewards for our top performers.
Next, I'm going to dive into our people and cultural journey in a bit more detail, looking at what we've done in the last few years and what we are focusing on in the near term. Since 2022, we've seen a major cultural shift and implemented a range of initiatives along the way. Some of these include increasing our headcount capacity and quality by rolling out a brand new rewards and recognition framework to better recognize and celebrate excellence within our people. As we've mentioned, we've overhauled our learning and development strategy, and this has resulted in a 10 times increase in face-to-face training. We've also created a suite of people-related KPIs that senior leadership will hold accountability for to ensure their delivery. We've also introduced a refreshed purpose, mission, and values to unify and energize the organization.
This year, we have put a new focus on our culture by introducing and evolving a range of initiatives. The results we're now seeing in areas like retention, engagement, revenue per head, and customer satisfaction are all downstream of this people and cultural journey. As we continue to review and grow, we will rely predominantly on the following areas to guide and shape our future initiatives. We'll be looking at constant alignment with our people and strategic objectives to make sure success is achieved mutually. This year, in addition to our annual staff survey, we've invested more time with employees, listening to the experience of our people, and capturing views across locations, roles, and grades. We'll also look at a suite of KPIs and metrics that indicate success across the people and cultural journey.
To support listening, we have continued to work with a number of external experts, which allow us to foster an environment where we're adopting best practice. Finally, let's talk about our near-term areas of focus. We are going to further embed our company values through ongoing training and improved infrastructure to support them. We are going to continue to progress with our EDI initiatives, such as programs like Women at Foxtons. Finally, we are going to broaden our performance management metrics across the board. Each of these pillars is absolutely vital to supporting our employees and the wider business through this next stage of growth. We have talked about employee voice and how important that feedback loop is to ensure that we're understanding the employee experience. Employee voice is critical to understanding workplace experience and culture.
Using Culture Amp, an external benchmarking tool, we've measured engagement with our 2024 survey, showing a growth from 65% to 69% in the last year, outperforming the U.K. averages. We are not complacent about the growth in engagement, and we know there is a lot more we can do. Finally, this last slide tells the story of the output of all the work that has come together in the delivery of our people and culture initiatives. Our shift from volume hiring to value creation means that fewer people are in and out of the door, and more focus is given on hiring the best talent and giving them the tools and environment to succeed, and it has had a profound impact. Retention is up 9% since 2022, a testament to better onboarding, clearer career paths, stronger leadership, and all the work we've done to enhance our culture.
Female retention is also improving with a 30% decline in leaver rates since 2022, and this is set to improve further as our targeted programs gain traction. Finally, revenue has grown 12% since 2021 in our Financial Services, despite a 20% decline in London sales transactions, proving that increased skill and productivity is within our workforce. Now, boosting retention and performance is not just good for Foxtons. It also cultivates an engaged and successful workforce. Long-term tenure leads to industry-leading leadership. It shapes careers, and it fosters the next generation of property professionals. I am now going to hand you over to Gareth, who is going to discuss lettings.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Gareth Atkins, the Managing Director of our Lettings business, and I have been at Foxtons for 22 years, working in every job from negotiator to running regions for both Sales and Lettings across our network before taking up my current role in 2022. Our Lettings business is a highly valuable recurring revenue stream with strong growth potential. The market is robust, with inflation-linked revenues and regulation that supports both consolidation and increased agent penetration. Our growth strategy is built on a proven playbook: increasing customer retention, winning new customers, and cross-selling what we call our growth formula. We have a well-developed acquisition strategy that complements our organic growth initiatives, enabling us to enter new markets and further accelerate growth. Some headlines. Since 2021, we've grown our portfolio from 25,000 to 31,000 tenancies. Revenue has grown over 40% from GBP 74 million to GBP 106 million.
Adjusted operating profit has more than doubled to GBP 27.2 million, and our margin has improved from 14% to 26%. This growth has been driven by both organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions. The lettings market is underpinned by inflation-linked recurring revenue because of the structurally sound dynamic between supply and demand. Demand is driven by population growth, affordability pressures, and wage increases. We've only seen this go one way. We get over 500,000 applicants registered with us each year, and by contrast, have just 2,000 available properties at any one time. Supply remains stable, with instruction levels being broadly flat year on year. A market that recently may have seen a portion of landlords considering exiting as high borrowing costs have resulted in low yields has turned on its head. Borrowing costs have dropped, and we've seen turbulence in the equities market.
Landlord sentiment is that the PRS once again offers a safe and resilient investment. The Build-to-Rent Sector is a major growth opportunity, especially for scale agents like us, who can cover London's vast geography. As the number one agent by volume across the capital, we're uniquely positioned to lead in this space. Regulation is another driver, which I'll talk to on the next slide. To summarize, the lettings market in London has historically delivered above inflationary returns, and the data we see suggests no significant change in that going forward. Regulatory changes, such as the Renters' Rights Bill, are increasing the use of agents. It's an evolution, not a revolution, and it catches England up with other parts of the U.K. DIY landlords who assume all of the risk of not using an estate agent are declining, and agent penetration is rising.
With a huge increase in legislation, licensing, and the imminent Renters' Rights Bill, if a landlord gets it wrong, the risk and the associated penalties are substantial. Just imagine having to repay two years' worth of rent to your tenant because you've missed something. Smaller agents are struggling with this compliance cost, while larger agents like us benefit from scale and tech investment. We're already prepped and ready ahead of time for such legislation. Our most recent acquisition pointed to this increasing legislation as the reason for their exit. The market remains fragmented, creating significant consolidation opportunities for us. Our growth formula focuses on three pillars: improving retention, acquiring new customers, and our value-add services. We increase retention in two ways: delivering the best results with the best service and industry-leading technology through a customer-centric digital-first approach.
The landlord landscape is evolving as a new wave of younger landlords step in, often as older generations pass their assets on. The way the next generation interacts with their agents plays further into our strengths. Our lettings platform supports transaction efficiency and new customer acquisition. We can complete a lettings deal end-to-end in under two hours, and our average lettings deal, including referencing, is just over two days, which is light years ahead of the competition. Our ability to funnel that demand and our geography and technology makes us the number one listing agent in London's growing Build-to-Rent Sector. Margin growth is driven by property management and ancillary services. Our cross-selling of property management is driving revenue, and we believe there is huge opportunity for us here.
A stat we are particularly proud of is driving our organic management penetration from a historic level of 28% in 2021 to 38% in 2025, a large piece of this through educating our landlords on the legislation and the relatively small cost of protecting such a big asset. In summary, we've got a track record of delivering organic growth, delivering 3.3% CAGR between 2022 and 2024. Our lettings platform gives us leading-edge technology in acquiring new customers and retaining our portfolio, and it handles massive volumes: 480,000 inquiries, 140,000 viewings, 31,000 offers, and 19,000 deals every year. For customers, it offers a digital-first experience with personalized journeys and 24/7 self-service. Operationally, it also boosts efficiency through lead scoring, optimized workflows, and always-on machine learning. This has improved viewing efficiency by 8% and deals per head by 5% in the last 12 months, so there is still room for growth.
Combine all of this with our acquisition strategy, and we are in a great position to deliver a significant proportion of the group's targets. I'll now hand over to Chris to talk through the acquisition strategy.
Good morning, everyone. To move on to lettings acquisitions. Since 2020, the group has used lettings acquisitions to transform its financial profile. Group earnings used to be significantly influenced by fluctuations in the sales market, but now they are underpinned by resilient lettings revenues. Since 2020, the group has invested GBP 64 million in acquisitions, acquiring over 13,000 tenancies. On a post-synergy basis, the acquisitions to date have achieved an average ROIC of 26%, an average EBITDA margin of 54%, and we've paid an average EBITDA multiple of 2.9 times. These strong post-synergy margins are achieved through a mixture of cost synergies and revenue synergies. Now to look at our strategy. Over the last five years, we've refined our acquisition strategy playbook and evolved our approach to doing acquisitions. We've got a dual-track approach.
The first track is a bolt-on acquisition approach, and the second track is a buy, build, and bolt-on strategy. Starting with the bolt-on acquisition strategy, this accelerates market share in our existing London markets and delivers high levels of cost synergies quickly. Due to the overlapping nature of bolt-on acquisitions with the existing Foxtons network, the organic growth opportunity is naturally lower. However, by leveraging the Foxtons operating platform and, in particular, our lead generation systems, we can extract acquired customer databases and generate new business using our technology and data capabilities. Bolt-on acquisitions also provide us with an acquired pool of experienced and knowledgeable staff who are excellent at nurturing those acquired client relationships. Moving to the right-hand side of the slide on our buy, build, and bolt-on strategy, this is our route to new geographies within high-value commuter markets.
This strategy firstly focuses on acquiring a lettings-focused hub business, typically the number one player in the market. We then retain the existing business footprint, power the business through the Foxtons operating platform, and either rebrand the business as Foxtons or dual-brand the business. That branding decision is informed by the strength and legacy of the acquired brand. If we do take the decision to dual-brand, the Foxtons brand provides an additional boost to the acquired business and enables dual marketing of lettings and sales stock. That hub then acts as an anchor for future bolt-on acquisitions, which allows us to scale it more quickly and deliver cost synergies. Once powered by the Foxtons operating platform, we actively target organic growth strategies, and I'll touch on those briefly.
Key enablers are enhanced staff productivity through our CRM system, marketing stock to a much wider pool of applicants across the entire Foxtons network. We also build on our existing B2B relationships in areas such as Build to Rent and new homes. We target a total ROIC of 20% once we've built out the hub, realized synergies, and delivered some organic growth. This strategy is our entry route into new markets, and it's much more effective than opening cold-start offices, which do not benefit from day-one recurring lettings revenue. The October 2024 acquisitions in Reading and Watford are examples of this strategy. Just to briefly touch on Watford as an example, we've already transitioned that business onto the operating platform, rebranded fully to Foxtons, and have already bolted in a lettings business earlier this year.
Although it's still early days, we've seen really encouraging results in terms of customer reaction, including doubling our market share of new sales instructions over the last three months compared to the prior year. Let's take a look now at our acquisition playbook and how we identify acquisition targets, in particular, the need for ongoing financial discipline. Our acquisition playbook emphasizes the importance of a number of areas. Firstly, strategic fit: market position, fee levels, and quality businesses are key factors we look at. Secondly, quality of earnings, in particular, seeking out those businesses that are highly focused on lettings. Where an acquired business has a sales operation which supports and feeds a lettings operation, we'll look to grow the sales market share there through using our platform. Thirdly, geography.
We look at areas which have high value opportunity available, but also have growth opportunities available. Naturally, valuation, discipline, earnings accretion, and synergy delivery are all important elements which we look at when we're making that decision. As Gareth covered earlier, the agented segment of the market is highly fragmented and provides an opportunity to consolidate. For this reason, we believe the consolidation runway is strong. The chart on the left summarizes the lettings market across London and Southeast England commuter markets, splitting independent agents versus corporates. In London, we estimate 66% of the market remains in acquisition opportunity, and in commuter markets, 64%. We also believe increased levels of lettings regulation will act as a driver of consolidation as smaller agents exit the market in the face of increasing complexity.
From a funding perspective, we'll fund these acquisitions through a mix of net-free cash flow and debt, and we'll maintain appropriate levels of gearing, which will reduce over the medium term as net-free cash flow grows. I'll talk to leverage again later in the presentation in the financials. The plan assumes we acquire and spend at least GBP 15 million a year, which is in line with the levels we've acquired in previous years. For the purpose of the base plan, we also assume in outer years that spending increases as cash generation grows. Should larger acquisition opportunities come to market and meet our criteria, our capital allocation frame does allow us with that strategic flexibility to scale up, which I'll cover later on in the presentation. I'm now going to hand back to Guy to talk through the sales plan.
Great. Thank you very much, Chris. Now to sales. Restoring profitability in sales is a challenge. However, we've made massive progress. Between 2016 and 2022, Foxtons lost considerable market share, particularly in the prime markets. Today, we've rebuilt and in many areas exceeded those past peaks. We know that we can't save our way to profitability in sales. It requires higher transaction volumes and a focus over the long term of increasing our average sales price. It's important to recognize that sales and lettings are co-dependent, with a strong sales offering essential to be able to deliver organic growth. Here, you can see just what's happened to the enormous swings in transaction volumes in London since 2010, despite a population growth of over a million people. In 2023, the market experienced almost record low levels of transactions thanks to the September 2022 mini-budget.
We believe that there's a backlog of around about 60,000 transactions due to that prior downturn. We forecast further market recovery due to interest rates declining over the medium term ahead. We are now at the start of the next sales cycle. We have rebuilt Foxtons' sales machine to be able to return to profitability even at normal sales volumes levels within the next 18 months, with a considerable upside opportunity in more buoyant years. With 8,600 properties currently for sale, which is our largest in 40 years, we lead the market, surpassing the next competitor brand who only have 5,500 properties available. Our market share has surged from 3.5% to 5% between 2021 and 2024, the fastest growing of any U.K. agency as measured by 20 CI, all while maintaining a premium fee average of 2.25%, which is double that of many of our competitors.
We have leading market share in all high-volume markets, with a 6.4% share in the volume market and 4% share in the mid-market, dominating where a staggering 86% of all transactions occur in London. We also dominate in the new homes market, having sold 18% of all new homes in London year to date, which is again considerably more than our closest competitor. Here, you can see our sales formula growth. Market share plus improved margin equals revenue and profit growth. Of course, powering this is our AI prospecting platform, which has helped to rapidly grow instruction levels. We now have more fee earners as well, with better training to help convert those listings into sales in a shorter space of time. Our CRM and our fee create productivity and improved margin.
We're already the established leader in the volume, mid, and new homes markets, and we are positioned today to return sales back to that profitability even at today's market levels. Further profitability will come from rebuilding our strength in these higher value markets. We must earn our way back into the prime markets, and everything has got to be right from our marketing, our branding, the talent, the training, and ultimately delivery of those sales. Given the large volumes that we deal with, even a modest increase of GBP 50,000 to our average sales price will unlock millions of additional profitability, strengthening our position for future growth. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, we now have a segmented offering to ensure that the offering is relevant to each client. We'll do this with revamped branding and personalized services initiatives.
have introduced a bespoke fee menu for the higher value markets to help grow market share. This fee flex will always grow the average fee value in GBP for each individual office. We also have an enhanced premium marketing focus. All of this together, we are starting to see promising progress already. Now to talk more about our financial services strategy is Richard Merrett.
Good morning. I'm Richard Merrett, MD of Alexander Hall. I rejoined the business in January last year, having first started in 2003 as a mortgage advisor. I know the culture and values deeply. Time away gave me a fresh perspective in order to make the adjustments that are needed to drive our growth. Alexander Hall is an extremely high-quality business with very strong fundamentals. We have the highest levels of training, compliance, and customer service, excellent customer retention, and strong lead flow from our Foxtons partnership. Recurring revenue from remortgages underpins the business, and improving affordability in the purchase market supports growth. Since returning, we've completed a full operational review, fixing the foundations, boosting efficiency, and enhancing lead conversion from Foxtons. Our Foxtons partnership is a unique underutilized opportunity, and we've identified complementary models to optimize this relationship and accelerate our growth. The mortgage market is fundamentally strong.
87% of mortgages now go through brokers, up from 58% a decade ago. Bank branches are in decline. Market complexity and demand for advice drive broker growth. We are also seeing stability post-mini-budget. Rates are falling, lending rules are easing, borrowing and buying power are improving. This creates a strong growth environment. We operate in a resilient, expanding market. In my opinion, we have the best people in the industry delivering top-rated service. We are growing headcount through industry-leading training and are one of the few firms bringing in new talent. We have enhanced pay structures to boost retention and accelerate advisor growth. We have been laser-focused on process efficiency gains, increasing advisor capacity and productivity. For the first time in 30 years, we are supporting this with a marketing strategy. More customer engagement means more opportunities. Mirroring the Foxtons success, we are now able to use our data more strategically.
We've built and embedded a new data platform, which acts as a single source of truth. This means that we can manage to clear KPIs and gain data-driven insights into our operations. We know that faster customer contact improves conversion, and we've therefore overhauled the 20-year-old Foxtons referral process to focus on active buyers, those who have the highest propensity to transact, ensuring that they're seen as quickly as possible and resulting in an 8% efficiency gain. This has also seen purchase business introduced by Foxtons increase by 105% year on year. We've enhanced our internal messaging, utilizing the narrative that finance is the enabler. The more Foxtons customers hear and understand this, the more homes the business will sell. Our challenge now is to scale faster without compromising service or compliance. As I've said, there's untapped potential in the Foxtons ecosystem. Currently, referrals focus too narrowly on new buyers.
We must expand beyond the negotiator-advisor link. Opportunities lie with vendors, high-value movers, and landlord financing. Better tech and marketing will help us both reach both these and a huge untapped tenant base, nurturing future home buyers. Alexander Hall is a strong business, but the model has not evolved in two generations. Scaling the employed model alone carries risk. Our solution is a complementary self-employed broker network. This model offers fast, scalable growth, greater leverage of Foxtons brand and leads, a flexible, low-cost structure, and geographical diversification of both cost base and talent pool. We are pursuing a strategic partnership, and the process is underway. Launch is anticipated within the next 12 months, laying the foundations for Alexander Hall to make a more meaningful contribution to the growth of Foxtons Group. Thank you. I will now hand over to Chris for the financials.
Okay. This morning, you've heard about all our medium-term ambitions from the management team. In this section, I'll look to pull all that together in the context of the financials. Before we do that, a quick reminder of our track record. Over the last three years, we've really been in a turnaround mode and delivered the first phase of growth. We've been very focused on improving our operations and selectively investing in value-accretive acquisitions. We're now a lettings-focused business and in 2024, delivered GBP 21.6 million of adjusted operating profit. That's despite sales market transactions being depressed compared to the long-run average. Importantly, we are on track to deliver the medium-term targets we set in March 2023 to deliver GBP 28-33 million of adjusted operating profit. That is why today, we're setting out new financial targets for the next phase of the growth plan.
This slide summarizes value creation from a financial perspective, which draws on many of the points you've heard this morning. I'll briefly talk to the key ones. We expect to benefit from the structural market tailwinds that Guy touched on at the start of this presentation. We have purposely repositioned the revenue profile, with 2/3 of revenue now coming from lettings. This brings resilience to our earnings profile across market cycles. Organic growth is a major focus for us, and the Foxtons operating platform provides us with that competitive edge against other agents. Acquisitions continue to be an important part of our growth story, and we are confident we can continue to consolidate in a highly fragmented market through value-accretive, lettings-focused acquisitions. Margin expansion opportunities exist, mainly achieved by increasing our scale, increasing customer lifetime value that you heard about earlier, and ongoing cost action.
We are a capital-light business, and although we will continue to invest in our technology stack, we do not envisage significant levels of CapEx in order to evolve this over the medium term. The balance sheet remains strong, and appropriate levels of leverage are used to support our growth. Overall, this drives shareholder value, with the four points on the right-hand side of the slide being the key takeaways. We expect to double earnings in the medium term. We expect to deliver earnings which are reliable, stable, and predictable. We have a progressive dividend along with other shareholder returns, such as share buybacks, which remain under constant review. Finally, the sales market recovery presents further upside against our base plan. I'll talk to that in a second. Now to look at our new medium-term targets, which replace those targets we set out in March 2023.
In the medium term, we plan to deliver over 40% revenue growth, taking us from GBP 164 million to GBP 240 million, deliver GBP 50 million of adjusted operating profit, which surpasses the target range we set in March 2023. Margin accretion will naturally follow, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 20% being targeted. Finally, net-free cash flow conversion of 60%-70% is expected, which basically returns us to 2021 levels. You'll recall across 2022, 2023, and 2024, net-free cash flow conversion was impacted as we transitioned to shorter and more competitive customer billing profiles in lettings. This slide really builds out the growth plan in more detail, and it shows the key drivers that will take us from the GBP 21.6 million of adjusted operating profit in 2024 to the medium-term target of GBP 50 million. Firstly, lettings organic growth. It's a key focus.
Revenue growth will be underpinned by inflation-linked revenue, with further upside being delivered from the letting growth formula, which Gareth presented earlier. Specifically, that was customer retention, new customer growth, and increasing the penetration of higher value services. Interest on lettings client money provides a natural hedge in higher rate environments when sales volumes are typically lower. As interest rates fall, we will see a headwind here. On the upside, expect to see increased sales market transactions and more landlords entering the lettings market as financing costs fall. Lettings acquisitions remain a real key part of our story. Our base plan modeling assumes that over the medium term, we will spend at least GBP 15 million a year, which is in line with our track record, with spending increasing in the outer years of the plan as cash generation grows.
A post-synergy return on invested capital of 20% is assumed once synergies have been delivered and hubs grown out. In sales, we assume some improvement in market volumes in the medium term. Specifically, we assume 95,000 transactions in London, which compares to 88,000 transactions we saw in 2024. That number sits below the long-run average of 100,000 transactions per year. Market share is expected to progress beyond 5% through organic growth initiatives, noting that we've already exceeded the target of 4.5% that we set in March 2023. We also assume some increase in our average revenue per deal as we take more share in higher value property markets, which Guy touched on in his presentation. In financial services, we plan to scale up the business organically and better capitalize on the revenue opportunity available from the estate agency business. R ecurring mortgage volumes will continue to underpin earnings.
Beyond the GBP 50 million target, there is further upside available should we see further sales market recovery beyond the assumed 95,000 transactions I mentioned earlier. Margin expansion, it's a key focus over the medium term, and this will be delivered through a combination of operating model fundamentals, cost control, and productivity growth. There are three key operating model points that provide margin protection and growth. To touch on those briefly, we have our inflationary linked revenues. This provides protection against general inflationary headwinds. As we scale, revenues will benefit from the inherent operating leverage in the business model. We're targeting improved unit economics by moving up the value chain and increasing penetration of higher value products. Proactive cost control will continue to be a key area of focus, in particular looking to reduce costs across our head office and branch leases.
In relation to our head office, we are engaging with our landlord to explore options to surrender a portion of that office space with a view of generating meaningful cost savings ahead of the 2027 lease end date. Technology enhancements and new data and AI products will also support margin progression. You heard from that earlier through Imran's area. We look to improve levels of productivity. Over the medium term, we plan to drive down our operating expense ratio and target that 20% adjusted operating profit margin. This slide provides a reminder of our capital allocation framework, which I presented in March at the full year results. The framework aims to support long-term growth and to deliver sustainable shareholder returns.
The framework supports that organic growth we talked about earlier and the initiatives you've heard about, accretive acquisition opportunities, a progressive dividend, and additional shareholder returns after considering factors such as earnings per share accretion, borrowing capacity, and leverage. We will use leverage to support growth, and the framework targets an EBITDA to net ratio of less than 1.25 times, which compares to an RCF covenant of 1.75 times. Finally, let me run you through the key cash and leverage points which are set out on this slide. Strong cash conversion and profitability underpin the group's disciplined capital allocation policy. The acquisition program will continue to be funded by a mix of net-free cash flow and debt made available through our GBP 30 million RCF, which is expandable to GBP 40 million and provides flexibility as we grow.
The base plan assumes leverage remains below one times and incorporates at least GBP 15 million of spend each year, with spend increasing in those outer years of the plan. With a capital allocation policy that supports EBITDA to net debt ratio of up to 1.25 times, we have that strategic flexibility to increase spend and enhance shareholder returns. I'll now hand back to Guy for the wrap-up.
Leading, innovating, and delivering. We've never been simply content with keeping pace. We've refined our market leadership, doubling our profitability since 2021, and positioning ourselves now to be able to double it again in the medium term ahead. We dominate London's lettings and sales markets and are now focused on expanding our network further. Our ability to outperform competitors, unlock hidden value, and drive premium fees proves that we're not just participating in the market; we're shaping it.
With our new headline target set out today of GBP 50 million of AOP, Foxtons is building for the future backed by a clear strategy, precise execution, and an unwavering ambition. We have the tech, the data, and the people to deliver this, working closely with our 1,400 colleagues to drive value for our clients and our shareholders. We have taken huge strides forward in the business over the last two and a half years, and we could not be more excited about the next phase of growth. We are confident, we are ambitious, and we are ready. An enormous thank you for all joining us today, both in the room and online. Ultimately, we look forward to answering your questions as my fantastic team can come and join me up on stage. Thank you.
Just a very small housekeeping point.
If you've got questions, if you could limit them initially to two, just so we could try to get around as many people as possible. I'll also be doing my best to scribble down the questions as they come firing at us. I think we may also already have a question.
It's Robin Savage, and I'll limit myself to one.
Sorry, kind of you. Thank you.
I think Martin and I remember 12 years ago when we saw Foxtons before it got floated, and we went around the offices and went down to your basement and saw the very impressive tech team that was around then. I may have met you back then in early 2013, and a very impressive presentation.
Can you talk about the importance of the work that was done over that sort of first 15 years, perhaps from 2020 through to 2015, the period of collating the data, curating the data? I suppose the question is, when did AI start for you, and how important is it that the data that you're using for AI has been properly prepared and that the people that use it are properly engaged for that use?
Great question. Thank you. I think it's really important to go back to the early 2000s. I had come straight out of university and joined this business just as it was accelerating and growing this market share very quickly. I arrived at a business that had just launched this new version of the CRM, and I thought that that's how all of the industry operated. Absolutely, they did not.
They were still operating on Rolodex, probably for the next five to ten years ahead. Foxtons had this machine and this insight and this vision to be able to start gathering data. Those insights early on are what really started to accelerate. Imran, you might just want to talk about the importance that we have placed over the last two years of building the correct structures around AI to make sure that we are AI ready.
Yes. What we have been doing in the last four years, we have been very conscious about that new technology will come out. We have built a data platform, a combination of a data warehouse, data lake, and we just call it a modern data platform. We work very closely with Microsoft and their preferred data partners in this space who have helped us.
We've come up with this roadmap where we want to take our data from our CRM system into their cloud-native Synapse kind of platform. We are working very hard in getting data extracted from our systems in the raw format and making it more readable for any kind of technology that's also available today and later on can just go in, plug in, and unlock. I think we are quite ahead in that space.
I think it's really important that we've positioned ourselves to be FutureF its. We've made the vast majority of the main investment to build the platform. The hardest part, as you might appreciate, is actually making sure that the data has been filed correctly, volumized correctly, so that when we are then using instant plug-in AI platforms and AI functionality, it's ready to go and that we know that we've got the system ready.
When it comes to how our staff is ready, since last year, we've been doing a lot of training across the teams. We're piloting different AI solutions. We don't go and adopt every single new tool that comes out because we don't believe in chasing the hype kind of thing. We're always looking at tools that will make a real difference, provide measurable return on investments, such as we've been using machine learning for our propensity modeling, which has delivered a reduction in the number of calls we make to create that valuation. That's a 50% reduction that that's brought in. Another example I can give you is in the France team. We use natural language processing and ML for speech analytics and text analytics, which is such a valuable tool for customer services.
I remember I used to see a couple of team members spending four or five hours going through call recordings and everything. We can now deliver within 15 minutes what they were looking at before for four hours. That increase in efficiency and productivity is something that we're chasing right now in the AI space.
I think from a usage point of view as well, because everything we do at Foxtons is on a single homogenous system, a complete ecosystem from end to end. Every department has to use that system. Every department enjoys using that system because of the visibility. Therefore, we do not have any usage issues across the business. It is actually remarkable when we do implement either a new functionality or new training, just how quickly the business adapts. It is really, really, really impressive. Thank you. Yes. Sorry. On its way.
Thank you.
Good morning. Andy Murphy at Edison. You might know, since you came back to Foxtons, that you're trying to grow the business and successfully so far, and you've obviously tried to accelerate it here. I was just wondering what market reaction you've noticed, if any, from your competitors on the ground, particularly in London. That's the first question. The second question will be, given what you're trying to do and the expansion outside of London, are you now finding that letting books or letting agencies are increasingly coming to you and saying, "Come and get me"?
Great. Thank you very much for that. Firstly, if we think about how the market's reacted in general, because of the hugely fragmented nature, we're not just taking market share off one individual business. It's across sometimes thousands of different agencies, particularly in London.
Actually, we haven't really noticed any competitive change to what they're doing. It's always been and always will be a competitive market, particularly where you've got these high transaction volumes and high value areas like London. That really, I think, leans into the productivity gains that we get because of the platform that we have. If we think about outside of London, the first thing that I said when we were looking at the acquisitions engine is I really wanted Foxtons to make sure that we had the best reputation as a buying partner when we're going and looking at acquisitions. I don't want to have a reputation for chipping people on the last day or for being brutal through that process.
The way that we've approached this is making sure that the sellers of these businesses, when they're coming to us directly, we act as a partner through that process, holding their hand, helping them through to make sure that we can get the deal over the line, both for them and for us. That is a small world of smaller independent agents, and they know each other and they talk regularly. Actually, what we do find is when we've closed a deal—in fact, this happened in Watford just a year ago—the day we announced the deal being closed, two or three of their instant competitors nearby came straight to us saying, "Look, I don't mind being a competitor against the previous firm, but I don't want to be a competitor against Foxtons.
Would you like to have a look at my business as well?" We bought one of those and already brought them in. I think it's the reputation of us as buyers, but also then making sure that that new market opportunity is maximized as much as possible. Thank you. Question over here.
Adrian Gierzi. I'll keep it to one and a half questions if I may. It talks about the post-synergy multiple within lettings, M&A of 2.9. Would you be able to remind us what the pre-synergy multiple was? This is the half bit. Can you split that synergy between revenue synergies and cost?
Great. We certainly enjoyed answering that for you. It's a nice one for Chris, actually. It's something we look at very closely.
The pre-synergy multiple generally is quite large, Adrian. I don't put a number on it.
The reason for that is a lot of these businesses are privately owned and therefore not set up for profits. Actually, when we look at multiples, often it is on a revenue basis. In terms of the post-synergy multiple, that is obviously a very key focus for us, as I set out earlier. The lion's share of the improvement comes from cost synergy, particularly on that bolt-on strategy. When I am talking about that buy, build, and bolt-on strategy, there is more revenue growth in there. Typically, on that bolt-on strategy, I would say around two-thirds comes from cost synergies.
Thanks, Adrian. One and a half. Great.
Thanks, Greg Poulton from Singers. Two for me, please.
Firstly, on the lettings side of the business, could you talk about the strength of the M&A pipeline and whether you're confident of deploying that at GBP 15 million in the current year? And then on the sales side, could you talk about targeting the high-value markets and how your people strategy is evolving against that? Because I guess Foxtons of old is known for having a very young workforce, but in the high-value markets, you might need more of an experienced hand.
Great. I'll take the first part of that question for sales, and I'll hand over to Chris for the lettings question about M&A pipeline. Yeah, absolutely. We don't need to change the game of what we're doing. We know where we are dominant. You can see where we're dominant, where the vast majority of those sales actually occur.
What we do want to do is try to just edge it up slightly. That might be, in one market, a much higher growth opportunity than we see in some other markets. What we do is we look at it intrinsically per office. We look at what's going on in the market activity. We look where we are as an average sales price within that office. We look at the average listing price. We look at the average price of the property that we're actually valuing to see where that trend looks down on that KPI chain. We try to work out where the opportunity to grow in each office is and give a different strategy dependent upon that. Now, some of that might be, as we've said, branding.
It might be bringing a more mature audience to go on those valuations and to help make those sales occur. It is only a GBP 50,000 increase that actually can change the game from a profitability point of view. Absolutely, all of those avenues are being looked at very, very closely. I think there are opportunities really for us to try to list more freehold houses. We know freehold houses, simply by nature, are much quicker to be able to go from under offer to exchange. That is also bringing in the time frames that we can squeeze a little bit, as well as aiming a slightly higher price bracket. There is no one silver bullet in that. It has to be everything right in order to earn our way back into that next value position. Chris might want to talk about the M&A pipeline.
Yeah, in terms of the M&A pipeline, it's where it needs to be. We've done one deal this year. The activity this year will be second half weighted. That's probably because first quarter was a particularly busy quarter for agents as they work through their own sales pipelines in many cases ahead of that stamp duty deadline. It's where it needs to be. It's probably quite even weighted towards that in London and those commuter markets. Look forward to updating you in due course.
Thanks, Greg.
Michael.
Thanks. Michael Brennan, Lombard Odier. Just a question on the assumptions on the sales business. It lost broadly GBP 4 million in 2024, and you've got 95,000 transactions kind of in your model. What should we assume therefore sales can get to? Is that just to get it back to break even?
The second part of that question is, given your focus on higher value properties, which does take time to build, what kind of ASP assumptions do you have as a result of that?
Our absolute focus has got to be returning sales back to profitability, even in those harder, lower volume years. As you have seen, that huge swing in the transaction volumes that we have been at historically. I can remember not that long ago where we have seen 145,000 sales transactions. In 2023, that was 80,000, a record low number. That is why we are restructuring the business and really weighting that growth towards lettings to decouple ourselves from these up and down swings. That is our focus. This year, we know we will probably see somewhere between 90,000 and 95,000 transactions.
We know that we can get the sales business back to break even and just into profitability over the next 18 months. That is where the baseline plan comes in. All of the other bits on top, which might be a little bit of market recovery, it might be a little bit of improving that average sales price, is just going to start to add on to the profitability in terms of where we might sit. Thank you. Yes. Yeah, morning.
Sam Cullen from Peel Hunt. Just got another read on the M&A pipeline. You said it is where it needs to be for this year. How do you think about the funnel that you have got going out over the medium term? I guess the obvious question is, what is the medium term? That is the first one.
Great. I will let Chris answer the medium term question.
Medium term, I'd probably answer that. We have a five-year planning horizon. The way we've built this plan, built the plan, which we presented earlier, is very much within that five-year planning horizon. Some parts of that are market dependent, and we'll see how those go. Some of those are very much within our grasp. What we can say, we're absolutely moving as quickly as we possibly can to make that plan delivered as soon as possible.
Great. In terms of the M&A pipeline, we have an internal team that focuses only on growing the pipeline. They've got great experience in the south of England. They know lots and lots of these independent business owners. You know what?
Some of these conversations, some of the conversations that we've closed over the last two years have happened literally in two or three months, from an initial conversation to getting an under offer and to closing it. Other conversations, we're still speaking to people that we were talking to five years ago, and we're trying to work with them to get their businesses ready to a point when they're ready themselves, as well as having the business ready to be able to be incorporated into the business.
Thank you. The second one is, if you looked at the slide, we had your core London and then southeast opportunities. At the end of the medium term, end of the five-year period, if all goes to plan, how should we think about the split of revenue and profit between London markets and then your commuter belt or southeast satellites?
Great question.
We were talking about this actually literally just yesterday. Probably a good one for you again, Chris.
The focus will always be in that core London pocket. We see these satellite towns contributing to that. We've not got a hard figure on that, Sam, but the balance is always going to be in that core London area. There are opportunities to continue to build that. These complementary markets will mean we've got a good diversified business.
Thanks, Sam. The frontier.
Hi, Ben Keith. Thanks very much for the presentation. I've got two questions. The first question has kind of been raised, I think, a little bit by others as well. I think more than 50% of the increase in operating profits in the new targets comes from acquisitions, at least it looked like it on the charts.
The rate of those acquisitions is going to be critical in terms of achieving that. GBP 15 million per year, I think the last question has sort of just touched upon this as well. What scope is there for that to increase? I guess that's a function of two things. The deals that are available, but also how those deals are being funded, be it free cash or debt. If you wouldn't mind just touching upon that. The second question was around the expansion into the higher-end prime and super prime markets. I'm wondering whether there is as much sort of benefit in your operating platform in terms of those markets, because historically, that's not where your main volumes have been or your main client base. These are new clients.
It could be potentially quite a capital-intensive exercise to build out a new prime offering if that's not really where the business has been historically. Just t hose two questions. Thanks.
Great. Thank you for those. Ben, I'll ask Chris to take the first question around AOP from acquisitions.
Yeah, no, you're right, Ben. Lettings acquisitions is a key driver, a large block in that profit build. It's around 40-45%, so not far off there. The deals are certainly available in the markets. We often source these direct with seller. That's a plus point and a real focus for us. When we are in a competitive tender with other buyers, we often come out on top. It's always going to be an area of focus for us to make sure we can deliver. You could see from that fragmentation that absolutely exists.
This market, even though we started to see consolidation, has plenty more to do. We think the opportunity is absolutely there. From a funding perspective, all the numbers we gave earlier are funded through our debt facilities, up to GBP 40 million expandable, sensible levels of leverage. In those early years, yes, this year, I talked to GBP 15 million as a baseline. You can see that building up into GBP 20-20 plus million. As I said earlier, if something came and it really had our criteria, then we can flex up. As Guy said earlier, we can plan, we have got the pipeline, and we have got this phased out into future years. Sometimes deals just drop, and we have to move. We have had good examples of that in the past.
When you look at all that in and around, I feel like we've got a good level of confidence to deliver that block of growth.
We certainly could have spent more last year if we'd had the opportunity, given some of the opportunities that were coming at us. Of course, it's always about making sure we do the right deal, not just any deal. We'll always be very disciplined in that fact. Again, looking at those super prime markets, the super prime market, even the prime market, that if you can define it a thousand different ways, but even if you just look at the market above GBP 2 million today, because of the interest rate environment, because of the taxation, because of some of the changes in non-dom, it's really tough going.
We know that from conversations and from looking at the data that we see in the marketplace. We do not need or want to be dominant in that market. What we need to do is raise the average sales price by a small amount. If we can do that through continuing to be dominant in that volume market and taking just a little bit more in that volume mid market, say up to GBP 1.5 million, we are golden. That is exactly where we should be aiming for. That will have a very quick drop through down to profitability once we achieve break even. Thank you. The frontier.
Thank you. It is Michael Rapps from Converium Capital. I have two questions. The first is, in terms of the acquisition strategy, do you have a preference for, or what is your preference for the size of the acquisition?
We've seen some of your competitors with their machine. They do an acquisition a week, and one is a 60 lettings book individual, and some are multi-branch deals. How do you sort of think about the size, both in dollars or in branches or in contracts?
When we were initially looking to buy the hub, let's assume we're looking outside of London now. That hub for us is really critical. Where it is, what the market share looks like, and then ultimately what we're able to bolt on around the outside to drive those synergies. That's critical. We don't mind doing smaller deals, but obviously there's a point where it becomes too small for us to look at deals below GBP 1.5 million enterprise value.
Really, it starts to get a little bit marginal at those types of levels, unless it's a really simple, really easy drop-in book that we can see why it makes sense. We may well do those perhaps within London where we've got the main opportunity. We all know that last year there was a lot of consolidation in London. There were some really big deals. Some businesses selling for over GBP 50 million. They would be deals that would really be a seismic change to our business. We are ready when those opportunities come around if we've got the capital allocations to be able to go for it.
Okay, thank you. I want to build on Ben's question from a minute ago. At the end of 2024, you had about GBP 12 million of net debt, and you had about GBP 20 million of adjusted operating profits.
Your leverage was, call it, 0.6 times. You generate about GBP 10 million a year of free cash flow. The first GBP 10 million of acquisitions you do is not adding to the leverage profile of the business. If you did the GBP 15 million of acquisitions that you are talking about in the base case, now your debt goes to GBP 17 million, call it, and your adjusted operating profit goes up a little bit above GBP 20 million. The leverage build is very minimal as you add these acquisitions on. My question is, is not GBP 15 million of acquisitions not ambitious enough? Could you not easily be doing GBP 20-25 million a year without getting anywhere close to your max leverage target? Thanks.
Again, something that is under constant review.
I think perhaps, Chris, you might want to talk about how we view capital allocation and what we think of it.
I think you summarized it well, Michael. GBP 15 million is very much the base. Absolutely in this plan, to deliver this plan, we're talking GBP 20-25 million in year three, year four, year five of the plan. It is a building plan. We take a sensible view on leverage. We do not want to over-leverage the business, but equally, now we are underpinned by resilient lettings revenue. There is a balancing piece there. It is an ambitious plan. It is suitably ambitious, and it will build.
Thank you. At the back.
On the lettings side, I am just wondering, how does retention of landlords compare once they have become part of the Foxtons Group versus how they were trending before?
Chris, perhaps another acquisition one.
Yeah, I may pass it to Gareth, actually, only because you're really on the core face of dealing with acquired landlords. You know what it's like under Foxtons, how they respond to the brand, and how you look after that relationship.
Gareth gets paid on this, so he knows it very well.
Trust me, I pay quite a lot of attention to this. The honest answer is that we spend a huge amount of time on acquisition retention. We spend a lot of time on retention generally. Over the last five years, we've put plans in place, both in terms of our senior leadership in lettings. All of them are rewarded on organic growth, and that only happens by retaining your clients. Now, when it comes to acquisitions, we've learned some lessons over the last five years.
Five years ago, in early acquisitions, we had a bit of a marketing model of sort of welcome to the big green machine, which, shock horror, lots of landlords didn't love. We've sort of evolved it into much more of a sort of, excuse the cheese, but sort of same team, now green. Over the sort of period of time leading up to it now, we've got a really dedicated communication strategy with those landlords. We go out of our way to effectively talk to every landlord that's in tenancy already so that the first point that we sort of deal with them is not at the point when they can walk away from us. That's a big learning curve from previously. We've probably learned both ways.
We've learned from what we did with our organic book, people that are used to dealing with us, and then we've learned from what we've done with our acquisition book. Probably the final thing I'd mention is we're also very sensible about how we deal with those landlords. We honor their fee in perpetuity. Whilst we're a premium agent, we're premium fee, and we don't really budge on our fee. When we take an acquisition book, we honor their existing fees. Right from the start, both with the staff and with the clients, we deliver a message of, you're going to deal with the same people, but you're going to get everything that Foxtons can offer with the same people you were dealing with before at the price you were paying before.
You're getting a deal that no one else can get because you were already in early. That works very well for us in terms of our retention. We do allow for a little bit of attrition, as you'd expect, in both our organic and inorganic book. If you allow for the fact that looking at our acquisitions as an example, we've also made GBP 3.5 million worth of sales fees from them. Where there is some attrition, we get the maximum sort of return out of it anyway to try and make sure that we're not losing anywhere, really.
What we often find is when we buy that new business and we have all of this fantastic data that previously has really not been, hasn't been prospected, we're able to drop that into our machine, into the prospecting team up at Chiswick Park, and get real value out of it from landlords who sometimes haven't been spoken to for five or six years by the original business that we've brought. There are definite upsides beyond just that loss. It's about them trying to make sure that the net position is higher. We've got lots of different ways of doing that.
Can you put a number on that? How does attrition in acquired businesses compare to before they were acquired and also to the rest of your organic group?
In terms of attrition versus organic, it's fairly similar.
Obviously, it differs slightly depending on the exact acquisition. In terms of how it compares before, I'll be completely honest, that is trickier, not because we don't monitor it, but because often these acquisitions don't monitor it. It's amazing how little some of these acquisitions, their data is sort of probably advanced for a Joe Bloggs estate agent, they record the key KPIs, but the attrition rate and things like that is just something that they don't look at. We very quickly start monitoring it, and therefore it aligns very similarly. Certainly in my tenure and Guy's tenure, it's been a sole focus for us. Broadly, where they've been recording it, broadly flat.
Thank you.
Perhaps over here on the side.
Thank you. It's Rupert from Zeus. Just one for Imran. It seems that every week there's a cyber attack of one sort or another.
You mentioned defense in depth. Could you just give the audience a bit of comfort or a bit more detail on what exactly it is you do to prevent that happening to you guys? Sort of a half a question. Do you take 100% of interest on client monies? If you do, do you think that's right in an environment where it's looking after the consumer?
Thank you. We protect against cyber attacks with a mature multi-layered security approach. This includes robust access controls, continuous monitoring, regular pen testing, and a lot of employee training. We adhere to industry best practices and compliance standards. We aim to align ourselves with ISO 27001 standard to ensure we stay ahead of these evolving threats.
Thank you. Second question around client monies. I mean, you might not recognize this or it might not be seen.
There is actually a huge amount of work that goes on in the background administering those funds, particularly when it comes time to hand them back. You might want to talk a little bit more to that, Chris.
Yeah, yes, we do, to answer your question. That is obviously with agreement with our clients, so that is well understood and very transparent. As Guy said, there is an enormous amount of responsibility and compliance that goes into that function. It helps fund that and cover those costs.
Thank you. Yes. I thought all these sections were very good, but I was particularly interested in the customer lifetime value.
I thought that was excellent. The question is not really for Fran.
It's for Chris and you, which is to what extent do you use customer lifetime value when you look at the value of a business like Ludlow Thompson that you bought and even yourselves? If you were looking at, say, an acquirer that was looking at you, to what extent do you actually have an understanding of what the latent value within your business is?
Great question. I think for us, customer lifetime value really is a concept that is overarching for everything that we do. Actually, the first conversation that I had with Fran two and a half years ago when we met was, how can we drive a massive improvement in the customer service with the clients that Fran looks after within the remit of property management who are our most valuable clients?
We know by the time we get to being able to look after and manage those properties for those clients, they are our most valuable clients. We have got to make sure that in an industry that I think it is fair to say that the service levels in certain aspects of that property management across the industry might be a five out of ten, how do we get and build to a ten out of ten? That really was the initial conversation about bringing in tech and data to be able to really help test the pulse across every single journey point of that and how then we can start to measure it.
Because before, it was a great concept, but we did not really have any proper way of measuring it, but also measuring the customer outcome and being able to test temperature at each of those different touch points. Even in areas where we thought we were great, we might not have been delivering a 10 out of 10 service. In areas where we perhaps thought we were poor, we might have been outperforming the customer's expectation. I think also a bigger mindset change, which is perhaps the industry and certainly at Foxtons, going back many, many years ago, had an absolute laser focus on the client. The only person that we wanted to constantly talk about building the value for was our client. Understandable, and that is absolutely how it should be.
We have also got to provide great service to people like our buyers and our tenants because, as we have seen, over a longer period of time, the value of those people that were once renting from us, they become buyers, they become landlords, and they become great clients of the business over a much longer period of time. We can measure it internally, and we have got value on, as you have seen. I think when we are making acquired businesses, when we are looking at acquired businesses, it is much more difficult because we are literally picking up the live data that they are operating with that we are asking for, and they are very basic KPIs. They do not have this forensic insight going really, really deep and certainly not looking back that we are able to do at Foxtons. Thanks to the tech build that we have had. Great. Thank you.
Sorry, just one more on the cost base. When you mentioned the upcoming lease at Chiswick Park and possibly taking a bit less space, in a perfect world, would you take zero space at Chiswick?
I was a little bit disappointed to find the length of the contract term when I took my position for Foxtons head office. I mean, we get amazing value. As you've seen, when you come and see the energy, the output, that really intense version of what we do at Chiswick Park, there is amazing value to having our teams close together working. We do have vacant space in some of our offices. In some offices, we have quite large vacant space.
We are looking as a project plan over the next two or three years as we get closer to the end of the term to really try to utilize more of that space and also having a right-sized mindset at the end of every lease opportunity. When leases come up for renewal, we are always saying, right, is this still the required space? Is there a better location on the high street? Is it possible to amalgamate? Of course, when we are making bolting acquisitions as well, a number of times we have actually closed huge offices and moved into the acquired smaller office to make sure that we are constantly looking at that bottom line. You might want to just talk a bit more about Chiswick Park.
I think Chiswick Park or a version of Chiswick Park will always have a role to play.
The amount of value we get from it, those who have visited the head office, if you have not, please do. We can get that arranged. There is an enormous amount of value there. It is just a way of evolving things. If Fran is an example, you may want to talk to it briefly, Fran. You have a number of property management hubs, which just shows that the property strategy is not just a single point place in London. It is more diversified. Actually, that helps you with the operations as well.
Definitely. It is quite an old-fashioned concept to think that certain functions, lettings, operations, property management need to be based in Branch or in London even. They could be based anywhere.
I will extend Chris's invite to Chiswick Park and ask you all if anyone would like to come up to Worcester, where we have 10,000 sq ft of beautiful office space, and we're growing out a team of property managers and lettings, operations, individuals. It's fantastic. We're tapping into a new talent pool of people that are hugely grateful to have the opportunity. Clearly, the way that tech works these days and the shared objectives that we have between our estate agency branches and our back office functions mean that really the teams pull together and work incredibly well despite being a couple of hundred miles away from each other.
Yes, at the back. Thank you.
When you make an acquisition, do you have a template to re-engineer the Branch P&L if you like to sort out incentivization given outsource functions, better productivity to make sure that those staff are kind of paid as they should be and everyone shares the benefits of coming into the group?
Definitely. It is always an individual review because obviously every business requires a different way of doing things. You are probably closest to that, Chris.
Yeah, no, it is really, really critical to get these teams who are actually very excited to join Foxtons. You have a fantastic—I might ask you, Gareth, just to finish off this answer because you deal with this on day to day. That opportunity to come under Foxtons, earn a different level of earnings than they had previously, have a different level of benefits they have had previously, and ultimately really incentivize to grow their business.
Actually, just to respond to one of the questions earlier, why is Foxtons the favored buyer? Some of these sellers are retiring and therefore stepping away from their business, but some of these sellers are actually still wanting to be involved in the business. For those ex-business owners, they also see it as a way, how can I myself grow my earnings and my value going forwards of this business I have grown with the help of Foxtons in partnership with Foxtons? It is a really important piece. We do that probably, Gareth, you set it out probably within week one and then within month two or three, you have put that together. You have brought them onto our incentivization schemes. Perhaps just give a flavor for probably Watford is a good one of how the team responds.
Yeah, I mean, Fran and I in fairness go in, as Chris said, within the first week. Normally, within a couple of days of the acquisition being announced and the team being told, we tend to give them a day to sort of take it into account. We tend to go in very quickly after that. Again, a lesson learned from previous acquisition of sort of leaving it a little bit too long of a week or two is too much time for people to worry about things. Fran and I will then go in in that first couple of days and basically eyeball everyone and speak to everyone individually because we've got a massive responsibility from a lettings-based business to retain the clients. You mentioned that earlier.
Fran will get under the bonnet immediately with the property managers to make sure that we have got the property managers on side. We know that if a property manager walks out the door with 20 years' experience, we're going to lose some of that book. We take that as hugely important to make sure that property managers are rewarded and in some cases given retention schemes to make sure that they're still there two, three years down the line. From a front office point of view and negotiator point of view, we're fortunate in the respect that whilst we honor their existing fees in perpetuity, there's growth in all of these businesses. Everything that we take on that's brand new and new to the business comes on at Foxtons' fees, which on average is far higher.
If you take Watford as an example, their average fee in lettings at the moment is less than GBP 2,000. Our average fee is more than GBP 5,000. It does not take a rocket scientist when you are talking to the negotiator about the opportunity ahead. A lot of these businesses that we take, especially as you get slightly further out towards and beyond the M25, are very much used to a model of paying their negotiators GBP 50 a deal. It is very easy for us to incentivize negotiators.
You can sort of see almost immediately when you chat to them that not sort of their eyes light up, but they suddenly think, "Wow, look at the opportunity," because we talk to them about the geography, about the ability that you currently have seven properties to rent, but you will soon be neighbored by offices that mean that you'll have 35 properties to rent, and you can rent anything anywhere in London. The short version is, yes, absolutely, but that's a little bit of color behind what we do within the first week. We reiterate that message again and again to hold on to the staff.
Great. Okay. If there's no more questions, I think we can conclude the day. Thank you very much for joining us.
It's really been enjoyable to present the plan, and we look forward to sharing more of that with you as we progress over the coming years. Thank you.