IT HAS taken 111 years to do it, but this weekend Knight Frank, the estate agent to the rich and famous, has lifted the lid on its profitability and the financial rewards enjoyed by its 31 partners.

The firm, which has converted to a limited-liability partnership, made a profit of £24.3m last year on sales of £171m, making it one of the most profitable firms in its sector. These profits will be divided among its partners; each will receive £563,000.

Nick Tomlinson, senior partner, said the profits were the fruits of a five-year expansion strategy that had led to staff numbers doubling to 2,138. The firm, along with its peers, has benefited from a benign property sector where the appetite for residential and commercial property has been huge.

Last year the company sold more than 250 houses worth over £2m each. These included Easton Neston in Northamptonshire, the stately family home of Lord Hesketh. It was acquired by Leon Max, a Russian-born fashion retailer, for just under £15m.

Knight Frank is now marketing Witanhurst, the property used for television’s Fame Academy talent show, presented by Cat Deeley. The grade-II neo-Georgian mansion in north London, boasts 25 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. It has been priced at £32m.

The property industry is highly cyclical and some firms still recall the tough years in the early 1990s during which a number of senior staff at various partnerships had to pump in their own savings. For now, the good times are back, but as Tomlinson said: “The point with any service industry is that it can go up and down and you have to expect that.”

On the commercial side the firm has just been appointed to value British Land’s £12 billion portfolio. It is also advising the London Development Agency on the Olympic Village. It is seeing a huge amount of interest from the Gulf states and to capitalise on this opportunity it intends to open more offices in the area in addition to its operation in Bahrain.

Knight Frank is reviewing the partner pay structure to reward high performance.

It is also appointing a further seven partners. A handful of directors outside this group each made more than £560,000 last year.

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