Countrywide profit expectations head higher

31st Oct 2013 07:52

Countrywide underlined that it was set to benefit from the Government's measures to kick start the housing market as it reported a 12 per cent rise in third quarter income. The FTSE 250 estate agency said the continuation of recent trends in the housing market as well as the implementation of the second leg of the Government's Help to Buy scheme was expected to drive a "meaningful uplift" in housing market volumes for the second half of 2013 with momentum continuing into 2014.Chief Executive Grenville Turner said: "Market data confirms the continuation of recent trends and we now expect the second half of 2013 to provide a foundation for a strong recovery in market volumes in 2014."The company said these positive trends coupled with its recent acquisition of commercial property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton meant it had increased its profit expectations for both this year and next as the year had progressed. The bullish comments came as the company reported third quarter total income up 12% to £154.9m helped by a "healthy" increase in its underlying operating margin. It reported house exchanges were up 13% to 18,102, the number of retail properties under management had risen 21% to 53,069 and the number of mortgages it had arranged in the three months was 25% more than the same period in 2012.The update prompted Jefferies analyst Anthony Codling to lift his price target to 750p and upgrade earnings estimate for by 6.6% for 2013, 15% for 2014 and 27% for 2015. Shares in Countrywide rose 3% to 580p.TB