EDC Poul Erik Bech achieves another solid result in 2023

EDC Poul Erik Bech is Denmark´s largest real estate agency with 19 business centers, 80 residential stores and a number of strong project departments all over Denmark. Poul Erik Bech says:

“We continue to gain market share in both the residential and commercial area. The executive team considers the 2023 results to be impressive and satisfying, given the current market conditions. We have particular improved our results in the residential sector, which accounts for 63% of our revenue, equivalent to DKK 350 million. In the residential area, we have delivered a very good year after a challenging 2022 and the start of 2024 has also been satisfying.”

“Our commercial sector accounts for 37 % of our revenue, which corresponds to DKK 207 million, which is a decrease of 15 %. Despite a slight decrease in revenue, we are pleased that we continue to gain market share, positioning us relatively stronger compared to our competitors. We consider the year to be satisfying in relation to the current market conditions. In 2023, the Danish transactions market across the entire commercial market fell by more than 40%, so in this light, we are quite satisfied with the development in the commercial area.”

The revenue in EDC Poul Erik Bech was DKK 557 million, compared to DKK 526.5 million in 2022. The profit was DKK 115 million before tax and DKK 93 million after tax.

Great employee and customer stability
EDC Poul Erik Bech is independent of banks and mortgage institutions. The majority of the company is owned by the non-profit foundation EDC Poul Erik Bech Fonden, which since its establishment in 2015 has received DKK 65 million for distribution and in 2023 there were 63 local donations, primarily supporting voluntary organizations that make a difference for vulnerable children. Poul Erik Bech says:

“We have a strong position in the future. Our ownership structure, with the foundation as the primary owner of the company, means that we are able to make long-term decisions without having to focus on short-term earnings. Therefore, we also have a general desire to prioritize our employees over earnings. This concretely manifests in our decision not to lay off employees during poor economic conditions, which has prepared us well for when the economy improves.”

“Our ownership structure also makes it attractive to become a partner. Out of our more than 600 employees, 135 employees are partners in the company. We expect continued growth in the number of partners in the coming years, primarily due to our ambitious growth strategy, where we aim to grow both organically and through the acquisition of other real estate companies. We continue to gain market share and have good, long-term customer relationships that we look forward to developing further. Therefore, we are well-positioned for continued competition in the real estate agency industry.”

Expectations for 2024
Regarding expectations for 2024, Poul Erik Bech says: “We will continue to focus on growth and a higher market share and will seize the opportunities that occur in terms of acquisitions. The housing market is picking up again in 2024, but as the market stands now, our current expectation is that the housing market will remain at a reasonable level – although with owner-occupied flats sales below 2023.”

“The transaction level in the commercial market is still relatively low, now for almost the second year. Despite challenges, we have navigated the period reasonably well and emerged stronger overall. There is still a lot of money in the market, but we do not expect a substantial thawing of the market until late in the year or in 2025. However, we are seeing significantly more activity in the sale of more common commercial properties, and in the first four months of the year, we have increased our unit sales by 39% and the number of leases by 11%. Our market share is developing very positively, with more than one in four commercial properties on the Danish market being listed through EDC Commercial, so we are very optimistic about the future.”