Savills’s Irish business saw its profits last year tumble by 87 per cent to €885,307, due to the impact of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions on its business.
New accounts filed by Savills's holding company, Anatao Ltd, also show its revenues fell by 40 per cent to €34.1 million during the year.
By contrast, between 2017 and 2019, Savills had recorded aggregate profits of just more than €19 million.
The directors state in the accounts that the pandemic had impacted certain revenues streams. “Exceptional items have been reduced in 2020, assisted by cost measures and by claiming relief under the Government’s Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS),” they state.
The company’s administrative costs reduced by 34 per cent to €33.3 million.
No dividend was paid last year by the real-estate group, which has offices in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. It had paid a dividend of €3 million in 2019.
Working practices
The directors state that “while there are many challenges to working practices in order to comply with differing levels of Government restrictions”, they are confident that the business has “sufficient resources, group support to manage through this difficult time”.
Numbers employed last year reduced from 255 to 249 and staff costs fell from €33.6 million to €20 million. This included severance and redundancy costs of €507,613 and share-based payments of €315,115. Directors’ pay increased from €682,821 to €735,284 .
The group’s operating lease costs declined to €1.9 million last year from €2.4 million in 2019. Shareholder funds at the end of last December totalled €17.5 million, including accumulated profits of €12.9 million. Anatao is the main Irish unit of Savills plc, which has an international network of 700 offices globally.
