EDC Erhverv Poul Erik Bech maintains momentum despite challenging year

Denmark’s largest estate agency, EDC Poul Erik Bech, with 19 commercial centres, 80 residential estate agencies and more than 600 employees, has just published the annual accounts for the commercial activities of the company. Poul Erik Bech says,

“After two extraordinary years, more uncertain winds blew on the property market in 2022. The market was impacted by uncertainty in terms of war, high interest rates, inflation, construction costs and energy prices. 2022 illustrated a divided year, where the first half of the commercial market continued at the same pace as the record year 2021, while the second half was characterised by rising interest rates, where buyer and seller are often too far apart in return expectations to reach an agreement.”

“That is why it is satisfactory that we can largely maintain the commercial revenue from last year, where we have only experienced a minor decrease of 3% in a market where the total transaction volume has decreased by approx. 15%. Thus, we are continuing our ambitious growth journey and we continue to gain market shares.”

The result of the primary operation at EDC Erhverv Poul Erik Bech was realised with DKK 34.8 million. In 2021, the profit from primary operations was DKK 47.7 million, which is a decrease of 27%. However, this must be seen in the light of the fact that the increase from 2020 to 2021 was significant with 74%. The year’s result after tax amounts to DKK 26.2 million compared to DKK 37.1 million in 2021.

The commercial department grows
EDC Erhverv Poul Erik Bech acquired another commercial centre in 2022 with the purchase of EDC Erhverv Strandfelt in Taastrup, which means that the total number of commercial centres is now 19 located around Denmark. Furthermore, in 2023, EDC Project Poul Erik Bech has acquired STAD Project. Poul Erik Bech says,

“We are pleased about the merger of EDC Project Poul Erik Bech and STAD Project, which has resulted in the establishment of Denmark’s strongest project team. Together, we will have a strong position in the market with more than 25 dedicated project employees for the sale and rental of project residentials. Furthermore, our international department has had another very good year and continues to grow. We have completed many tasks and contributed to several international market reports with our partner JLL. We have built a strong network of foreign investors and business partners, and the department saw a revenue increase of 60% in 2022.”

“We want to continue to expand our position as Denmark’s most nationwide real estate agency within commercial real estate. We have a strong position in the market, particularly in medium-sized cases, which we will continue to strengthen. At the same time, we are satisfied that we are solving an increasing amount of the larger cases. We want to help our customers solve both small, medium, and large cases.”

Among other areas that have done well is the company’s agricultural department, which was established 3.5 years ago, which continues to grow and has delivered a great 2022.

Expectations for 2023
Regarding the expectations for 2023, Poul Erik Bech says: “We are constantly focusing on achieving an even higher market share here at home, including on the market for the very large transactions. In addition, we will continue to expand the business for our international customers. We will achieve our ambitious goals by further developing our customer relationships and strengthening our entire full-service value chain, growing our new business areas and by merging or consolidating with other real estate companies. We expect that the level of business transactions in 2023 will be significantly lower than in 2022, but we expect growth in market shares.”

EDC Poul Erik Bech is independent of banks and mortgage credit institutions and is largely owned by the non-profit foundation EDC Poul Erik Bech Foundation, which through the profits from the brokerage business supports voluntary associations that make a difference for vulnerable children as well as art and architectural heritage.