McEwan Fraser has scored with sponsorship

SPONSORSHIP of Hibernian Football Club has proved a money-spinner for property investment firm McEwan Fraser, which has seen net profits rise threefold.

The firm, which will report a 30 per cent increase in turnover for the 15 months to December 2009, said one in five of the 300 inquiries made to the company's property arm every month came as a result of the Hibs deal, which began a year ago after the club ended its agreement with drinks giant Whyte & MacKay.

In the latest accounts, due to be filed with Companies House in the next month, McEwan Fraser is set to report group revenues of 15.8 million for the period, up from 12.1m in the previous 12 months, while net profits grew from 150,000 to 467,000.

The firm altered its structure in September 2008, creating a limited liability partnership for the main property investment side of the business and a separate services firm called McEwan Fraser UK. It subsequently changed its financial year to December to bring the companies in line with each other.

McEwan Fraser buys properties at around 75 per cent below market value from people in need of a fast sale using investment funds from private equity individuals. It then sells the property on to a private buyer.

"There's sometimes a feeling that we're trading on people's misery, but we don't create the circumstances in which people need to sell," said co-founder Scott Fraser, who launched the firm in 2003 with Ken McEwan.