1st Mar 2019 07:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Rightmove PLC on Friday reported a strong annual performance with revenue and profit rising on the prior year, while its chair has also announced plans to leave.
Chair Peter Williams will step down from the board at the end of its annual general meeting in May. Williams will leave Rightmove after more than five years.
Rightmove hopes to appoint a new chair before its 2020 AGM.
For 2018, the FTSE100 listed online property website posted pretax profit of GBP198.3 million, higher compared to GBP178.2 million a year ago.
Revenue meanwhile rose 10% year-on-year to GBP267.8 million from GBP243.3 million.
"2018 was another strong year for Rightmove. We extended our market leadership and reinforced our position as the place consumers turn to first when thinking about moving home. In doing so, we demonstrated Rightmove is a business which can continue to grow strongly even in uncertain times," Chief Executive Peter Brooks-Johnson said.
Currently, Rightmove holds a dominant position in the UK property portal market. Average site visits rose 4% during the year to 132 million per month.
Looking ahead, Rightmove believes it is well-positioned to maintain its market leadership, despite challenges posed by the UK's exit from the EU later in March affecting consumer confidence.
"We believe the UK online property advertising market will continue to grow, despite the continuing uncertainties stemming from the result of the EU referendum. Consumers and customers are becoming increasingly digital and customer spend continues to transition online from traditional advertising channels as they take advantage of the efficiencies we bring," the firm said.
It added: "We remain vigilant to the macro environment, but Rightmove is not materially impacted by the property market cycle except in the most extreme circumstances.
Rightmove upped its total dividend to 6.40 pence per share from 5.40p, meaning it will return GBP55.0 million to shareholders. The final payout for the year amounted to 4.0p, rising 11% from 3.6p a year ago.
Related Shares:
Rightmove