Happy New Year, Engel & Völkers Vancouver! Below is a message from E&V Ceo Sven Odia. We have included the video message along with the full text article.
Dear Engel & Völkers family,
We hope you all started the new year 2020 well and in good health!
In a very dynamic market environment, we at Engel & Völkers managed once again in 2019 to break our turnover record of the previous year! The Group generated more than 819 million euros (909 million US dollars) in total commission revenues. This marks a 13 per cent growth in turnover! Approx. 12,500 people working under the Engel & Völkers brand have contributed to this amazing success, including more than 9,700 real estate agents and consultants.
We are delighted by this result. On behalf of the entire Management Board, the Supervisory Board and shareholders, we would like to thank you for your outstanding dedication and hard work, day in and day out – be it in your shop, office, Market Center, or at our headquarters. It is only with your commitment, loyalty and determination to get the job done that we have been able to grow Engel & Völkers together into one of the truly great international players.
Both our franchise business and “Company Owned Operations” underwent significant growth in 2019.
In North America (the USA and Canada) in particular, the franchise business was a strong driving force. Engel & Völkers generated commission revenues here in excess of 250 million euros (277 million US dollars).
With over 3,700 agents now operating in more than 200 shops, “E&V Americas” contributed more than 60 per cent of the global increase in turnover.
An incredible achievement for its network that has not gone unnoticed. Stefan Swanepoel, CEO of the Swanepoel Group, one of the most influential consulting firms in the real estate industry, said of us: “Engel & Völkers is the first non-American real estate company to have made it in the USA.”
For years, another stellar contributor to our success has been the outstanding franchise business in the DACH region.
The group of countries Spain, Portugal and Andorra managed to generate the same turnover of approx. 94 million euros (104 million US dollars) as in the previous year, despite the ongoing crisis surrounding the independence movement in the region of Catalonia. E&V continues to be the market leader in Spain in the most important first and second-home markets.
Digitalization Will Be a Key Focus for 2020
Moving forward, digitalization will continue to play a central role at Engel & Völkers. With this in mind, we set about reinforcing the management team of E&V Technology GmbH in the autumn, with the appointment of Jitender Vashist (CEO) and Christian Henk (CPO). Together with Andreas Westendörpf (CTO), they will focus on expanding the Engel & Völkers system platform and developing digital products that are crucial for the future of Engel & Völkers.
To remain competitive, we will continue to invest heavily in new technologies. It is worth emphasizing here that these plans are not aimed exclusively at enabling agents to work more independently in the future, but also the digitalization of our administrative and commercial processes. We aim to provide our partners and regional offices with services that will become increasingly optimized over time.
Thanks to you, 2019 was a financially successful year!
We can, therefore, look optimistically to the year ahead of us, and we expect to achieve an increase in revenues despite several challenges in the markets. 840 million euros (933 million US dollars) in Group commission revenues is our target for 2020.
We are still forecasting strong turnover growth in North America, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. We also intend to strengthen our performance in Italy and France significantly through investments.
In addition to our core business in the Residential division, we also see strong potential for growth in our Yachting division. In 2019 we opened a new yachting shop in Monaco. Just before Christmas, E&V Americas granted its first yachting licence in California, USA.
Please make the most of your opportunity here and aim for even greater heights of success than you’ve achieved up to now! Together we have been uniquely successful in brokering real estate around the world, thanks to our strong brand and our system. Staying unique will remain crucial for us in the future.
Exciting times lie ahead. We very much look forward to experiencing them together with you!
With kind regards,
Christian Völkers and Sven Odia
CEOs of Engel & Völkers AG
