TIDMRMV
Embargoed for release at 07.00 hours, 4th November 2009
RIGHTMOVE PLC
INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
Rightmove plc ("Rightmove"), the UK's number one property search website,
publishes its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 July 2009 to
31 October 2009.
Current trading
Overview
The last four months has continued to see healthy growth in revenue and
earnings and strong cash generation. Usage of the Rightmove website has been at
record levels, with August representing our busiest month ever with nearly 600
million page impressions, up over 40% on August 2008.
The number of advertisers on the Rightmove website at the end of October stands
at 17,600, up 5% from the low point in February 2009. This has been driven by
continued healthy growth in agency membership and growth in new homes
development numbers.
Average revenue per advertiser
Growth in average revenue per advertiser within our individual business units
is also healthy. This is primarily the result of increased advertising spend on
our expanding range of Choice products. Sales of Choice products are at the
highest levels since their introduction over two years ago. Changes to pricing
are progressing according to plan.
Home hunters
Activity on the websites is up strongly with page impressions for the period
July to October 2009 up around 35% compared to the same period in 2008. Market
share compared to on line competitors has strengthened, helped by our September
2009 TV advertising campaign. Enquiries being generated for our advertisers
continue at much higher levels than in 2008 (up over 60% for Q3 2009 compared
to Q3 2008).
Agency
Estate agency and lettings membership rose to 14,100 by the end of October, an
8% increase from the low point at the end of January 2009.
Record sales of our Choice products have increased their penetration from 31%
at the beginning of July to over 40% at the end of October (compared to 27% at
the start of 2009).
New homes
The number of new developments coming to market from volume house builders has
increased, consistent with the comments made by the publicly quoted house
builders. Housing Associations continue to suffer from weaker government
funding, dampening any recovery in overall development numbers. With a major
developer win we now have all of the largest mainstream new home developers as
advertisers.
Choice products have also proved popular with developers with penetration
increasing from 56% at the beginning of July to over 60% at the end of October
(compared to 48% at the start of 2009).
Holiday rentals and Overseas homes sales
Holiday Lettings has traded strongly with sales to new advertisers holding up
well compared to the record levels experienced at the start of the year. The
list price per property advert for renewing customers now stands at GBP185 per
annum compared to GBP119 little more than a year ago.
Our Overseas property sales business continues to adapt to the challenging
overseas market conditions with revenue having stabilised following a year of
decline.
Costs
Cost savings of GBP5m announced a year ago will be fully achieved in 2009. Write
offs and bad debt levels have returned to historic negligible levels. Our
scalable and asset light business model means that increases in costs are
likely to be very modest as we pursue the improved opportunities presented by
current market conditions.
Outlook
The Board is confident of meeting market expectations for the current year and
expects to achieve further progress in 2010.
Contact:
Nick McKittrick (FD) or Press Office, Rightmove plc 0207 087 0605
END
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 04, 2009 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)