Savills PLC shares dropped on Thursday after it reported a plunge in half-year profit, and it announced Stacey Cartwright was the new chair.

Shares in the London-based property agent were down 8.5% at 907.00 pence in London on Thursday morning.

Pretax profit collapsed 88% to £6.0 million, from £50.4 million a year prior, while revenue fell 2.5% to £1.01 billion, from £1.04 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Ridley said: ‘Savills has weathered both the inflationary cost conditions and reduced transaction volumes well, increasing market share and, supported by our strong balance sheet, continuing to undertake selective business development activities to further the group’s long term growth strategy.’

Net cash stood at £12.9 million, down 91% from £149.0 million.

Savills declared an interim dividend of 6.9 pence per share, up 4.5% from 6.6p per share the year before.

Savills also announced that Cartwright will succeed Nicholas Ferguson as chair effective from December 31.

Cartwright was previously chief executive officer and deputy chair of London-based designer fashion company Harvey Nicholls PLC, executive president and chief financial officer of London-based luxury fashion company Burberry PLC, and chief financial officer of Derby-based internet bank Egg PLC. Since January 2021, Cartwright has been a senior independent director of Savills.

CEO Ridley said: ‘On behalf of everyone at Savills, I thank Nicholas for his leadership of the board since 2016 and for the huge contribution he has made to the development of the company over the past seven years.

‘I am delighted that Stacey will be Savills next chair. I greatly look forward to her continued contribution and guidance as we seek to deliver the group’s long-term strategic objectives.’

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