Estate agent Savills PLC (LON:SVS) expects underlying results for 2018 will be in line with expectations after a “robust” final quarter.
The group warned, however, that prospects for 2019 are overshadowed by macroeconomic and political uncertainties across the world and that it is bracing itself for declines in transaction volumes in a number of markets.
Savills hopes to largely mitigate the effects of any fall-off in transaction volumes by growing revenue in its less transactional business lines and is therefore expecting 2019’s performance to be more or less on a par with 2018’s.
The group said the performance of its existing businesses together with a deliberate reduction in business development investment under current market conditions led to a stronger year-end net cash position than had been originally expected for the group.
Shares in Savills were down 0.5% at 761p.