Group revenue increased by 23% to £2.15 billion, compared to £1.74bn in 2020.

At the same time, the firm’s reported basic earnings per share sky-rocketed by 114% to 104.9 pence per share.

As a result, the board has announced a dividend of 55.4p, to be paid in May. This includes a one-time special dividend of 27.05p.

Savills also revealed that Transactional Advisory revenues increased by 34% in recovering markets, while Commercial Transaction revenue increased 35% overall with strong growth in the UK and Asia Pacific. Residential Transaction revenue rose by 31%.

Savills’ Investment Management revenue also increased, driven by base management fees growth of 30%. The firm’s assets under management rose by 22% to €25.8bn.

Nick Penny, head of Savills Scotland, said: “Our Scottish business has been able to adapt quickly to emerging trends; from where people want to live, work and invest to how land is owned and managed across Scotland. As a result we have gained market share across the board. Environmental and social drivers will continue to impact the Scottish real estate sector. We will remain alert to these changes and look forward to augmenting business growth over the coming months.”

Mark Ridley, group chief executive, added: “Savills delivered a record performance in 2021 reflecting the significant recovery in both residential and commercial transactional markets supported by growth in our less transactional Investment Management, Property Management and Consultancy businesses.

“The war in Ukraine has shocked the world and, in response, Savills is providing support both through international charities and via our Polish operation, focussing particularly on Ukrainian refugees. Our thoughts are with everyone affected in the region and we can only hope for a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible.

“At this stage it is too early to predict the economic, including longer-term inflationary, impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the world’s real estate markets. Subject to this key uncertainty, we would anticipate real estate transaction volumes and discretionary spend to normalise in the year ahead, alongside the continued recovery of global markets as they emerge from pandemic-related disruptions.”

He concluded: “The Group has started 2022 in line with our expectations and the strength of our balance sheet supports our growth strategy to pursue further complementary acquisitions and significant recruitment across our global business.”