Newcastle's LSL Property Services has sold its London-specific estate agency business Marsh & Parsons to rivals Dexters London Limited.
The £29m deal, payable in cash at completion, is the latest move by LSL to streamline its group and follows the sale of its specialist new build mortgage arms Group First Limited and RSC New Homes Limited to Pivotal Growth, the joint venture it it operates with private equity investor Pollen Street Capital. LSL told the London Stock Exchange the disposal would not make a material impact on the group.
Accounts filed for Marsh & Parsons for 2021 show the firm had revenue of more than £33.4m and operating profit of £2.6m. LSL pointed to the £28m of gross assets at the estate agency, which employs about 340 people and signalled intentions to grow its number of offices in "outer prime central London" areas.
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Dexters has a number of offices across the capital and group accounts to the end of September 2021 - in which it signalled growth intentions - show the firm generated revenue of £143.2m with operating of £35.7m. LSL said the deal was subject to normal working capital adjustments and the proceeds would be used to support growth of its financial services activities.
David Stewart, chief executive of LSL, said: "Marsh & Parsons trades only in prime and outer prime central London and is operated autonomously from other parts of our estate agency business. This disposal helps to further simplify the group structure to allow us to focus on maximising our core opportunities, particularly in our financial services network business, whilst also reducing exposure to the more volatile London housing market.
"Following this disposal, we remain committed to developing the remaining LSL Estate Agency brands, where there is greater synergy with the rest of the group, and opportunities for growth."
Shareholders were told the LSL board is considering distribution options on the back of the cash deal and that it would issue an update "in due course".
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