Online property site Rightmove (RMV) shrugged off a generally moribund housing market and pushed underlying operating profits ahead by 11 per cent to £91m in the six months to June 2017.
People might not be buying or selling homes as much as in the past, but visitor numbers were still higher by 3 per cent at 132m per month. This helped to support advertising rates, and the average revenue per agency branch grew by 10 per cent to £865 per office per month. Agency numbers were also higher at a record 17,589.
More agencies were also signing up for additional products such as Rightmove’s Optimiser package. This offers enhanced brand and property advertising and helps individual agents spread their marketing to a bigger audience. Nearly 2,000 branches are using Optimiser spending a minimum of £1,500 a month.
Revenue from new housing developments grew to £1,210 per development per month, and the number of developments rose by 4 per cent since the start of the year to 2,769. Cash conversion remained strong at over 100 per cent, and some of this was used to buy back 1m shares costing £42.5m. Since the scheme started in 2007, the share capital has been reduced by nearly a third.
Analysts at Numis are forecasting pre-tax profits for the year to December 2017 of £184.4m and EPS of 159p (from £166.2m/141p in 2016).
| RIGHTMOVE (RMV) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 4,244p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 3.92bn | |
| TOUCH: | 4,244-4,248p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 4,416p | LOW: 3,604p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.3% | PE RATIO: | 29 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 11p* | NET CASH: | £13.6m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 108 | 80.6 | 68.4 | 19 |
| 2017 | 120 | 87.5 | 76.6 | 22 |
| % change | +11 | +9 | +12 | +16 |
| Ex-div: | 05 Oct | |||
| Payment: | 03 Nov | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £3.69m or 4p a share | ||||
