30th Jul 2021 09:06
(Alliance News) - Rightmove PLC on Friday reported that profit nearly doubled in the first half of 2021, compared to a year-earlier period in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has yet to fully recover to its pre-pandemic levels.
The online property portal posted pretax profit of GBP114.7 million in the first six months of this year, up from GBP61.6 million a year before. The business is still around 15% behind its 2019 profit, which was unaffected by Covid.
Revenue for the period grew 58% year-on-year to GBP149.9 million, a rise of 4% from the pre-pandemic 2019 first half. Operating profit rose 86% from a year prior to GBP1114.9 million, up 6% on 2019.
"While the pandemic is not yet over and its devastating impacts continue to be felt, Rightmove has emerged stronger from 2020, with our investments bearing fruit with both home-hunters and customers," the company said in a statement.
Despite the encouraging trading performance, membership at Rightmove did not see the same improvement, flatlining at similar rates to the start of the year at around 19,000.
Looking ahead, Rightmove said it expects the second half of the year to follow a broadly similar pattern as the first, with increased demand for properties boosting growth in its businesses. A "strong pipeline" planned for the second half give management confidence in delivering its expectations for the full year, the company stated.
"The first half of 2021 brought further lockdowns, instilling in many a desire or motivation to move home, and the nation relied on us to help them to find their new life, with a record 10.4 billion minutes spent searching and researching on Rightmove," commented Chief Executive Peter Brooks-Johnson.
"The innovation we have delivered to help home-hunters find their happy, despite the restrictions, have been well used - with 200,000 video viewings and 160,000 rental viewing appointments made on the platform."
Rightmove declared an interim dividend of 3.0 pence per share, reintroduced from no payout last year and 2.8p in 2019.
Shares were trading marginally lower in London on Friday morning at 680.00p each.
By Will Paige; [email protected]
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