Back
News

Savills bosses call on ‘bench strength’ to weather market storms

Since Savills was founded in 1855, the agency has withstood “most war, pestilence, plague and a lot of down-market trends”, chief financial officer Simon Shaw tells EG. Its top team has worked through the past dozen years of ups and downs. However, Shaw says the playbook it operates with has stayed the same throughout.

That playbook involves a “conservative” financial structure that allows for the “flexibility to [retain] bench strength and invest during difficult markets, because that’s the best time in which to do so”, says Shaw (pictured above, right).

Savills’ bosses are relying on this approach to get them through a tough period for the transaction advisory business, which swung to a £17m loss in H1 2023, on a 20% fall in revenue to £328.7m. The decline was the main driver behind a 72% profit slump for the company during the period.

Start your free trial today

Your trusted daily source of commercial real estate news and analysis. Register now for unlimited digital access throughout April.

Including:

  • Breaking news, interviews and market updates
  • Expert legal commentary, market trends and case law
  • In-depth reports and expert analysis

Up next…