Commercial property consultant Ryden has reported a strong year with turnover up 19% to £13.8million in the 12 month period to 30 April 2018. The firm’s annual accounts also showed a profit available to Members up 33% to £5.3m.
Highlights of the latest financial year include significant regional growth in Glasgow up by 25% to £4.6m and in Edinburgh up by 15% to £3.5m. Outside Scotland, operations in England were also up 41% to £2.8m.
Both the transactional and non-transactional sides of the business were up 20%. The Investment group has had a particularly good year of growth delivering 16% on income and 27% on profit.
Key transactions over the period include the lettings at Atlantic Quay 1 and 3 in Glasgow, the purchase of an office building on St Andrew Square, Edinburgh for conversion to a Malmaison Hotel and the sale of the Vertex building at Eurocentral to Brewdog.
Last year Ryden also announced the merger with Scottish planning consultancy Muir Smith Evans, creating a market-leading planning and research consultancy team. The firm’s expansion into Manchester also represented a further step of a strategy for growth across England.
Ryden’s Managing Partner Bill Duguid commented on the accounts: “These results show a very strong performance from our teams. While our agents continue to dominate the industrial property market in Scotland, and conclude outstanding office property transactions, we are also seeing fantastic income growth from our property asset management and project management specialists who are delivering projects for organisations like Morgan Stanley and Independent VetCare.
Mr Duguid also added: “The key to our success is undoubtedly our experienced people working in long-standing teams. We recently appointed five new partners through internal promotions, our offices in England are expanding, and we are concluding property deals in Aberdeen working with clients to build on the confidence returning to the city.”
Looking ahead, he commented: “The next year will be an interesting time in the UK economy with a number of political events and changes to come, but I firmly believe our business is prepared to face any challenges thanks to the consolidated growth we have been experiencing.”
Reinforcing the success of the business, Ryden has won several key industry awards in the past 12 months, including EGi’s Most Active Agent in Scotland for the 14th time, nine CoStar Awards, including both the Scotland Industrial and Office Agency categories; and most recently, the Scottish Property Award for Industrial Agency Team on the Year.