ANGOR PROPERTY SPECIALISTS
ANGOR PROPERTY SPECIALISTS
ANGOR Celebrates
20 Years of Growth PRODUCTION: David Napier
In the next few years, ANGOR Property Specialists intends to add several thousand more units to its existing 45,000 under management. This is a company celebrating its 20th anniversary by detailing a strategy for significant future growth. Executive Director, Dennis Flammer talks to Enterprise Africa about plans to grow in all of South Africa’s provinces, and also the UK. 2 / www.enterprise-africa.net
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY
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It’s 20 years and counting for Johannesburg-based ANGOR Property Specialists, the expert residential property management business that has been delivering quality for its clients since 1998. Founded as a family business offering various property services, ANGOR is now one of the country’s go-to names in property management and has ambitions to increase its market share in the near future. The family that started the company owned a big property portfolio but had identified many areas of frustration where management services were simply unavailable or supplied ineffectively. So, an operation was established in a garage with the idea of filling gaps in the market. In the early days, business was good. The company expanded quickly, growing its staff base and industry influence
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until 2009 when it was taken over by new management. Since then, ANGOR’s reach has grown significantly across South Africa and the company now manages property all over Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape. The company is responsible for the management of over 45,000 Sectional Title and Homeowner’s Association units in over 450 schemes, worth in excess of R40 billion. Executive Director, Dennis Flammer is delighted with the company’s success. “We are extremely proud and we feel very blessed. I think we’ve got a great team of people here and we are very happy to be in the industry we are in.” Flammer, an accountant by training, was part of the team which oversaw the purchase of ANGOR in 2009 and he says that the immediate focus was expanding reach.
“Initially the business was predominantly in the Johannesburg area, and many of our clients are still in Gauteng, but we have started to grow our reach in the other provinces. We have buildings in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, and we have recently signed terms on a deal which will see us opening proper infrastructure in the Western Cape by March next year.” This jump into the Western Cape is a big move for the business and will help grow ANGOR’s influence considerably. The expansion will see ANGOR acquire a Western Cape-based business and onboard all of its buildings. “For the last couple of years, we have been exploring opportunities in the Western Cape. We were working on one or two transactions but nothing solid. When this opportunity came
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along, we realised it was exactly what we had been looking for the whole time. It has worked out perfectly in terms of pricing, timing and ambition. It will also help us to increase our footprint in the Western Cape while remaining in line with what we stand for,” explains Flammer. “It’s a similar business to ours and we will bring that into the ANGOR family,” he adds. INTERNATIONAL GROWTH In a bid to diversify the company’s risk profile, and grow its presence outside of the South African market, ANGOR acquired a small business in the UK market in April 2017. “The reality is that we are faced with certain risks in South Africa, with our weakening Rand and other factors, so our goal has always been to try
and generate foreign income. It made sense with the UK as our timelines are very similar. The plan was to use the infrastructure we have in South Africa to service the UK market by using our call centres and accounting processing. Relationships can be managed with minimal feet on the ground,” details Flammer. After initially investing in a business with a small collection of around 500 units, ANGOR has intensified its presence in the UK, acquiring two more companies and taking the total number of units under management to approximately 2000. “The three different managing agents still trade under their own names and we are starting to implement our systems there. It is a learning curve for us as the property management model is completely
different in the UK. South Africa is in many ways simpler as a single Sectional Title Act governs it all. The UK is more complicated as there are many individual leases.” Just like when ANGOR was acquired in 2009, the vision is to streamline everything – all processes including accounting, administration and other services. “We switched over everything to our in-house and web based developed systems and we restructured slightly to render slightly different services in a slightly different way. “We have a lot to focus on in South Africa and we still see our market share as small. All our focus, for now, will remain on South Africa and the UK. “Today, we have 45,000 units so I think we have done something right,” states Flammer.
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MODERNISING MANAGEMENT In a bid to introduce modern management services to both endusers and property owners, ANGOR has developed a new app that will help tenants pay for, and manage, their utility consumption. The app ensures that tenants are aware of how much power and water they are using, allows them to top up when they are getting low, and it allows landlords to ensure properties are not vacated with outstanding unpaid utility bills. “One of the challenges in South Africa as a landlord is that, even if you have a tenant, you are ultimately responsible for the utility account of the unit. A lot of the time, a tenant will abscond or won’t pay the utility account and the landlord sits with the liability, being the owner of the unit,” explains Flammer. The ANGOR app will help to put an end to this challenge. Developed by ANGOR’s inhouse development team, the app is designed specifically for the South African market and has been a work-in-progress for some time. “We had a system in the past
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which only catered for electricity. We’ve added more functionality in the last month to cater for gas and water as well,” says Flammer. “The prepaid app that we have developed over time sees us collect funds on behalf of the owners and the occupants cannot use the utilities unless they top up their prepaid system. In that way, you almost guarantee that the funds will be available for the community scheme to settle its obligations with the council and reduce the risk of non-paying occupants. “We create one wallet for them, with all the utilities, and they can manage their consumption on the app and see exactly what there are consuming every day. If the balance on their wallet runs low, they will receive a message telling them to top up or their power will be disconnected.” This smart solution displays ANGOR’s ability to add value across
// TODAY, WE HAVE 45,000 UNITS SO I THINK WE HAVE DONE SOMETHING RIGHT //
the full spectrum of property management services. SAFE & SECURE Another innovation being developed by ANGOR in its attempt to become the market leader in South Africa is a range of security services which will ensure buildings under its management use technology for secure access only. “This is a pilot project as we can see frustration in some building complexes,” admits Flammer. The fundamental idea is to replace finger print and tag identification with cell phone technology to restrict access. “There is a challenge regarding finger print access and tag systems as it is an issue to manage this type of access. Cell phone technology is now so advanced, we can create encrypted keys and send them to cell phones so that your phone can become the key to open a gate. Managers can log into the app and see who is at the gate and who has passed through the gate. We are trying to make cell phones remote controls for accessing property. It is still in the pilot phase and we hope to get it right over the next year,” he says.
ANGOR PROPERTY SPECIALISTS
// THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE WON’T BE ABLE TO GROW THE COMPANY AND BOOST OUR FOOTPRINT AROUND THE DIFFERENT PROVINCES OF SOUTH AFRICA // One of the hurdles is the amount of data required to utilise a cell phone for these types of task, but ANGOR has a plan if this hurdle is too high. “So far it is working well but we realise a lot of people are still very aware of the amount of data they are using on their cell phones so if someone doesn’t have data, they might not be able to use the full functionality of the app and that has resulted in us trying to find a solution for those who don’t want to use their phones. The result is us working on key pad entry as well, but we are certainly overcoming the challenges that have faced us,” says Flammer.
Congratulations to ANGOR Property Specialists on their 20th Anniversary. We are proud of our longstanding association and wish them well for the future.
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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE Long-term, the goal for ANGOR is to continue growing the number of buildings under management and claiming more market share in South Africa while also running a successful operation in the UK. Flammer says that expansion in South Africa is almost guaranteed and strong relationships with fantastic development partners make a great recipe for success. “In Gauteng, there are big developers like Balwin and Summercon who deliver a very good product and there is a huge gap in the market to provide housing. “From 2009 to today, we grew the
The Nicol
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// THE REALITY IS THAT WE ARE FACED WITH CERTAIN RISKS IN SOUTH AFRICA, WITH OUR WEAKENING RAND AND OTHER FACTORS, SO OUR GOAL HAS ALWAYS BEEN TO TRY AND GENERATE FOREIGN INCOME // company by around 30,000 units. If we can continue to achieve the same organic growth over the next few years, we would feel very blessed. I do believe it is possible; one of our development partners is planning to build 13,000 rental opportunities over the next few years so if we can continue to render a great service, there is no reason why we won’t be
able to grow the company and boost our footprint around the different provinces of South Africa.” But one issue which has troubled the property market in South Africa is the unpredictable economy. In September, the country entered technical recession, and while it looks likely that this is not a long-term issue, investors remain unsure about
ANGOR PROPERTY SPECIALISTS
the stability of the country. However, ANGOR is set up to provide annuity income which provides more stability when times are tough. “We render a service and it is a requirement, irrespective of what the economy is doing, as trustees need assistance,” details Flammer. “Our core business is a monthto-month management and we didn’t see any impact from the slow economy, but we do have a small sales and rental division where we definitely saw an impact. It’s getting harder for end-users to get funding to buy houses, so our sales have slowed drastically in the last few months. Because of the stock that is available in the market, thanks to the big developers that are building units by the thousands, the rental market is under some pressure because it is much easier for prospective tenants to move into new housing and it’s harder to rent units in older buildings.” He also suggests that property is a “big red light at the moment with regards to ownership and how that will be dealt with but the private residential market is not something we are concerned about at this stage.” Asked if the company’s staff base of 120 will grow as the business takes on more units, Flammer says the successful implementation of ‘employee cells’ can be rolled out without delay. “What we have done in South Africa, as we want to retain a personal relationship with clients,
// WE HAVE RECENTLY SIGNED TERMS ON A DEAL WHICH WILL SEE US OPENING PROPER INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE WESTERN CAPE BY MARCH NEXT YEAR //
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is stick to a model where a cell of four people will look after certain groups. A cell will consist of two portfolio managers, one financial controller and an assistant. We will allocate anywhere between 25 and 30 buildings to a portfolio manager, so a cell will manage between 50 and 60 buildings. The moment you bring new business on board, you simply start a new cell and create pockets of ANGOR inside ANGOR. It keeps a personal relationship with end users. If someone calls in, they simply mention the name of the complex they are calling from and they can be transferred to their cell where they will have an existing relationship with the four people in the cell. Each cell receives support from a range of other departments, so we just want to keep duplicating that concept as we grow.”
ANGOR is a business on the up. While it operates in a competitive market, the expertise and knowledge that exists within this business, and the fact that it has been growing for 20 years, make for a very attractive offering. According to its mission statement, the ANGOR Group is “dedicated to increasing the quality of living of each and every occupant living within a property managed by the group,” and to date, that is exactly what it has done.
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ENTERPRISE AFRICA
NOVEMBER 2018