Savills - Preliminary Results Interview With CEO

LONDON - Savills, the global real estate service provider, attributed underlying
profit before tax of GBP33.2m for the year ended 31 December 2008 to the
Group’s geographic and sector diversification.

In a video interview with Cantos, Jeremy Helsby, Group Chief Executive,
said the UK residential and commercial businesses performed well considering
the “very very tough markets we were operating in last year”.

In the international businesses, Mr Helsby highlighted the performance of
the Asian operations and said they were building on the investment in Europe.
While the US business reflected the general deterioration in that market, he
said the presence of a fantastic team will position Savills for the upturn,
which he predicted would start in the US.

Non-transactional income in areas such as property management and
consultancy contributed over 90 per cent of profits, compared with around 40
per cent in the previous year.

Mr Helsby said it was difficult to make any accurate predictions for the
residential market in 2009 on the back of two months’ trading. January and
February are notoriously slow, however he said that Savills was seeing an
increase in applicants and viewings. UK commercial real estate deal volumes
were starting to pick up, he added, as sterling weakness attracted foreign
buyers.

The interview and transcript are available now on
w3.cantos.com/savills.

It’s free to view. All you need to do is register at
www.cantos.com. Cantos.com, the online financial broadcaster,
features in-depth interviews, documentaries and webcasts with senior
company executives. If you would like to contact us, please email
enquiries@cantos.com or phone +44-207-936-1333.

Source: Savills

If you would like to contact us, please email enquiries at cantos.com or phone +44-207-936-1333