Ireland’s biggest estate agent, Sherry FitzGerald, posted a bumper 23 per cent increase in its revenues last year, helped by the acquisition of a business in Northern Ireland.
Latest accounts for Sherry FitzGerald Group Ireland Holdings Ltd also show that the property company paid a €6 million dividend to its parent entity, which is controlled by entrepreneur Tommy Kelly’s CastleGate Investments.
This was the first dividend drawn down from the business since Mr Kelly acquired the business in 2022.
Turnover rose to €43 million for the year to the end of December 2024, up from €34.7 million in the previous 12-month period. This included an 11-month contribution of €4.4 million from Belfast-based Simon O’Brien Residential Ltd.
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The Northern Ireland agent was acquired in January 2024 for €10.25 million, the accounts state. This was Sherry Fitz’s first acquisition outside the Republic since 2011.
Sherry Fitz also acquired the business of a franchisee in Wicklow for just under €1.1 million.
In total, Sherry Fitz sold 8,800 residential units in the Republic last year, up 300 on 2023.
This included 4,300 through its own business, which was up 700 on 2023. These had a capital value of €2.8 billion or an average price tag of just more than €651,000.
The number of homes sold by its franchisees fell to 4,500 from 4,800 a year earlier. These had a combined capital value of €1.5 billion, the same level as the previous year when it sold more units. This equated to an average price per unit of €333,000.
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The agent sold another 1,400 units in the North with a combined value of €600 million, an average price of €428,571.
The company’s operating profit almost doubled during the year to €3.6 million. But “project costs” of just under €2.7 million, largely associated with the acquisitions, along with an interest charge of €469,000 and corporation tax of €505,000, left it with a small loss for the year of €19,000.
This compared with a profit of €1.1 million a year earlier.
Sherry Fitz closed 2024 with cash of €7.7 million, down from €8.2 million in 2023.
Marian Finnegan, Sherry FitzGerald’s group chief executive, said the underlying performance of the business was “robust” across all divisions with the business delivering an Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of €6.4 million, up from €3 million a year earlier.
She described market conditions in 2024 as “challenging”, with a decline in new housing output and continued inflationary pressures.
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This year, Sherry Fitz has launched a franchise model in Northern Ireland and announced its intention to acquire Knight Frank, a commercial property agent, subject to clearance by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
Ms Finnegan described the Knight Frank deal as a “strategically significant move that will materially enhance our commercial advisory and transactional capabilities”.
The agent previously exited from commercial property here in 2018 with the sale of its business to Cushman & Wakefield.
Sherry Fitz has 107 offices on the island, including 72 operated by franchisees. The company had 331 full-time equivalent staff last year with payroll costs rising by 15.5 per cent to €29.2 million, the accounts state.
Directors’ costs rose by just under €1 million to €2.9 million.
