Rightmove’s profits and revenue soared last year, the portal announced this morning. Rightmove also revealed that it is unscathed by the launch of OnTheMarket. Just 260 branches have quit Rightmove, which this morning said it counted nearly every single agent in the UK as a customer.
Chief executive Nick McKittrick said: “We are delighted that nearly every agent in the UK has chosen to remain on Rightmove following the recent launch of a new entrant, OnTheMarket.com, cementing Rightmove as the best property advertising option in the UK.
“As at the end of February customer numbers were unchanged from our record year end position.
“With our market leading position strengthening, average spend per advertiser continuing to grow and record January traffic numbers, the Board remains confident of making further progress in growing the business organically in 2015 and beyond.”
The Rightmove customer base grew 5% during last year to a record high of 19,304, with overall customer numbers unchanged as of today – the end of February. Of the total, 16,843 are agency branches, with the remainder being new homes advertisers.
The portal reported revenue up 19% to £167m, and underlying profits up 20% to £124.6m.
Rightmove’s profit margin is also slightly up on last year, from 74.3% to 74.6%.
Agents paid more to Rightmove.
Average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) rose by 13% to £684 per month, up from £607 per month in 2013.
Rightmove said “around 70% of ARPA growth has been driven by customers choosing to spend more on additional advertising products and packages”.
A record 15.4 billion pages were viewed across all Rightmove’s platforms in 2014 (desktop and mobile), up 10% on 2013.
Enquiries from home-hunters to advertisers increased by 19% to 42.8m during the year.
Rightmove said growth has continued into 2015 when traffic passed 1.5bn page views and 100 million visits in January, resulting in a record 4.3 million leads for customers in the month.
This morning, Rightmove also announced a big increase in dividend to shareholders, up from 17p to 22p – up 25%, and certain to be a City-pleaser. In the first 90 minutes of trading this morning, share prices rocketed 260p – up almost 10%
PROPERTY INDUSTRY EYE – 27/02/2015
