Property portal Rightmove (RMV) continued to fire on all cylinders last year. Its shares raced up 6 per cent in response to news that the number of listed advertisers rose 4 per cent to 18,425 and that average monthly revenue per advertiser jumped 15 per cent to £607.
The popularity of the website, which charges estate agents a monthly fee to advertise their properties, shows no signs of dissipating. Rightmove boasted 10m unique users last year and reported a 27 per cent rise in traffic across its website, mobile and tablet platforms to 14bn. More importantly, it translated that interest into profits: underlying operating earnings soared 19 per cent as its margin climbed 1 percentage point to 74.3 per cent.
Still, Rightmove’s outsized gains could tail off soon, as over 90 per cent of UK estate agents already advertise with it. The onus for growth may shift to its overseas operations, which account for only 1 per cent of sales. Alternatively, a UK housing recovery could fuel growth in estate-agent numbers after years of consolidation, expanding Rightmove's local market.
Broker Numis lifted its pre-tax profit and EPS forecasts by about 3 per cent to £118m and 91.4p, rising to £130m and 101p in 2015.
| RIGHTMOVE (RMV) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 2,760p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.8bn | |
| TOUCH: | 2,758-2,763p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2814p | LOW: 1708p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.0% | PE RATIO: | 37 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 9p | NET CASH: | £6.8m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 64.5 | 36.5 | 26.7 | 10 |
| 2010 | 81.6 | 52.2 | 35.7 | 14 |
| 2011 | 97.0 | 62.7 | 43.9 | 18 |
| 2012 | 119 | 83.2 | 61.3 | 23 |
| 2013 | 140 | 97.0 | 74.1 | 28 |
| % change | +18 | +17 | +21 | +25 |
Ex-div: 07 May Payment: 06 Jun | ||||
