International property consultancy Savills, the joint venture partner with America's Trammell Crow in outsourcing company Trammell Crow Savills reports pre-tax profits for the eight months to December 2000 of £17.4m on turnover of £156.7m.

Savills has changed its year-end from April to December and also provides pro-forma figures for the 12-month periods to December 2000 and December 1999. Turnover is up 60% at £213.5m (£133.4m) with profits rising 26% to £25.9m (£20.6m).

Richard Jewson, Chairman of Savills plc

Savills chairman Richard Jewson commented: "These are an excellent set of figures, particularly in the last two months of the period. They reflect a very strong performance from all three of our traditional businesses, transactional, consultancy and property management.

"We are pleased with the progress we have made in developing our facilities management and financial services businesses which will provide more stable long-term earnings and complement our traditional businesses.

"These results demonstrate that we have laid the foundation for Savills,
together with our US affiliate Trammell Crow Company, to be the leading
international provider of property services."

The group said it is continuing to look for opportunities to grow the UK business through acquisition and recruitment although 40% of its business is now outside the UK and it sees "tremendous potential" in the rest
of the EU.

Edward Lyons- CEO Trammell Crow Savills

Advice on transactions accounts for around 45% of total turnover; the other business streams are consultancy, property management, property trading, financial services and facilities management.

Facilities management turnover for the eight-month period was £23.6m generating profit before interest and tax of £2.3m. As well as Trammell Crow Savills the group's FM activities include FPDSavills Guardian which provides a range of property management services, primarily in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong government outsourcing contracts.

Savills says that with the increasing trend for major business to focus on core activities there is tremendous potential to develop the FM business further in Europe and Asia.

Aubrey Adams Group Chief Executive

Commenting on the relationship with Trammell Crow, Jewson said: " We are delighted with the way that the relationship is developing and there are already significant new business opportunities that have arisen for both companies. In particular our joint venture, Trammell Crow Savills, has the scope to grow rapidly and become a significant profit contributor in the future."

Looking at the other divisions, Aubrey Adams, group chief executive said consultancy turnover was £23.2m, generating profits of £3.5m: "This was an excellent performance by the various professional teams throughout the Group." Savills building consultancy department had another successful year continuing its trend of increasing income and profit by more than 20% for the fifth successive year: "Our focus on office fit out has secured an increased market share including the project management of a wide range of corporate headquarters within the financial, legal and manufacturing sectors."

www.fpdsavills.com

Richard Byatt