Savills posts rise in full-year profit, makes solid start to 2015

March 19 (Reuters) - International estate agent Savills Plc (Other OTC: SVLPF - news) posted a 21 percent rise in pretax profit for 2014, helped by a record performance in Britain, led by London, and its acquisition of U.S. group Studley in May.

The group also on Thursday agreed to buy Germany's SEB Asset Management for up to 21.5 million euros in cash to create a group with 15 billion euros worth of European assets under management.

Savills on Thursday reported group pretax profit of 84.7 million pounds ($126 million) on revenue which was 19 percent higher at 1.08 billion pounds.

It said it made a "solid start" to 2015 in line with its expectations, but added that the timing of a recovery in the Hong Kong commercial market and a subdued UK residential market ahead of a national election in May meant its performance would be weighted towards the second half.

($1 = 0.6730 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)