- Trading ahead of market expectations
- Shares up 3% year-to-date
- Expects revenue growth of 8%-10%
Rightmove (RMV) shares jumped over 6% at one point in morning trading as the property listings site reported an upbeat trading statement ahead of market expectations.
Year-to-date Rightmove shares are up marginally by 3% at 541p.
The FTSE 100 property portal said since reporting its interim results in July revenue growth had ‘continued to track marginally ahead of consensus expectations’ despite uncertainty in the housing market.
The company said: ‘Our share of consumer time in the second half to date remains unchanged - at circa 85% - demonstrating the strength of our brand, our position with consumers and the established network effect of our business model.’
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell said: ‘Clients are spending more on advertising on average, driven by new home developers doing more to try and shift their properties.’
CONFIDENT WITH FULL YEAR OUTLOOK
Rightmove expects revenue growth of 8%-10% for the full year 2023 and underlying operating profit growth of 7%-8%.
The company now expects average revenue per advertiser growth to be £112 to £116 for the full year, up from the previous forecast of between £103 and £105.
Analyst Roddy Davidson at Shore Capital said in a research note: ‘This is a very encouraging update in the context of the significant macroeconomic headwinds impacting the UK property market and provides another illustration of the strength of Rightmove’s proposition to both agents, developers, and consumers.
‘The latter remains a key feature as conditions seem unlikely to improve over the coming months. It is also good to see the company highlighting explicit growth targets around the next phase of its development.’
Rightmove’s trading update came ahead of an investor day held at the London Stock Exchange.
Chief executive Johan Svanstrom said: ‘The momentum that we reported in July has continued through the third quarter and beyond. The strength of our performance against an uncertain market backdrop demonstrates the strength of the UK consumer affinity to our platform, the value of the established network effect of our business model, the depth and richness of our consumer data, and the value that our customers place in our products to build their businesses. It also illustrates the resilience of our business model in all phases of the property market cycle.’
Financial services company AJ Bell referenced in this article owns Shares magazine. The author of this article (Sabuhi Gard) and the editor (Martin Gamble) own shares in AJ Bell.
