Douglas and Gordon's lettings business transferred
Douglas and Gordon's office on Upper Richmond Road. Picture: Google Streetview
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A number of tenants in the Putney area have expressed concern about the announcement of the transfer of their lettings to Foxtons.
Foxtons acquired Douglas and Gordon (D&G) in March of last year including the branches in East and West Putney and Southfields. The agency continued to operate on an independent basis and clients say they were given reassurances that Foxtons would not be involved in the letting of their property.
One woman said, “I’d previously had a less than satisfactory experience with Foxtons and wanted to avoid involvement with that company again but was told that I would continue to deal with Douglas and Gordon. This no longer appears to be the case.”
Foxtons paid £15.5 million for the business and is now selling the loss-making D&G sales business back to management with the lettings book being transferred to offices. Foxtons has been on the acquisition trail over the last few years acquiring smaller letting agencies and integrating them into its business.
Most of D&G’s revenue came from lettings and its portfolio grew by 4% to around 3,000 tenancies and £10 million revenue since Foxtons took over.
Foxtons are projecting operating profits for the D&G lettings business of £4 million in 2022. The price raised for the sales business is described as a nominal consideration.
Some D&G employees will be transferring to Foxtons but no information has yet been released about the D&G branch network.
Foxtons CEO, Nic Budden said, “D&G has performed extremely well over the last ten months under Foxtons ownership and this next step is a real win-win for both parties to the transaction. We have an excellent track record of acquiring and integrating lettings businesses and expect to deliver significant growth in operating profit through the integration of the D&G lettings business into Foxtons highly scalable infrastructure. The D&G sales business will remain as an independent brand under its current leadership and we wish them well for the future.”
D&G CEO, James Evans added, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead D&G as an independent brand and excited by the prospect of continuing to grow the business and serve our customers as we have done for many years. Foxtons is a fantastic business, I spent many happy years there myself and I know that our transferring staff and clients will have the same great experience I had. I would like to thank our transferring clients and staff for their loyalty, business and hard work over the years and wish them all the very best.
D&G in Putney were asked for a comment.
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January 14, 2022
