Rightmove plc (LON:RMV), the UK’s largest property portal, today announces its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2023.
A year of strong financial, operational and strategic progress
| Financial Highlights | 2023 | 2022 | Change vs 2022 | % Change vs 2022 |
| Revenue | £364.3m | £332.6m | £31.7m | +10% |
| Operating profit | £258.0m | £241.3m | £16.7m | +7% |
| Underlying operating profit(1) | £264.6m | £245.4m | £19.2m | +8% |
| Final dividend | 5.7p | 5.2p | 0.5p | +10% |
| Total dividend for the year | 9.3p | 8.5p | 0.8p | +9% |
| Basic earnings per share | 24.5p | 23.4p | 1.1p | +5% |
| Underlying basic earnings per share(2) | 25.2p | 23.8p | 1.4p | +6% |
· Revenue up £31.7m/10% on 2022 to £364.3m, as customers continued to upgrade their packages and increase their use of digital products
· Operating profit of £258.0m; up 7% on 2022 (2022: £241.3m); Underlying Operating Profit(1) of £264.6m; up 8% on 2022 (2022: £245.4m)
· Basic earnings per share up 5% to of 24.5p (2022: 23.4p) and underlying basic earnings per share(2) up 6% to 25.2p (2022: 23.8p)
· Final dividend for 2023 up 10% to 5.7p (2022: 5.2p) per ordinary share. Total dividend for 2023 up 9% to 9.3p (2022: 8.5p)
· £201.7m of cash returned to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends during 2023 (2022: £197.7m)
· Cash and cash equivalents, including money market deposits, at the end of the period was £38.9m (31 December 2022: £40.1m)
Operational highlights
· Average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) (3) up 9% to £1,431 per month (2022: £1,314)
· Total membership reduced 1% at 18,785 (2022: 19,014), with Agency branches down 93/1% and New Homes Developments down 136/4% since the start of the year
· Resilient traffic, with a total of 15.4 billion(4) minutes spent on the platform in the year (2022: 16.3 billion). Time on platform 27% higher than 2019 (2019: 12.1 billion)
· Continued uptake of our top packages – Optimiser Edge and 2020 for agents, with 35% of independent agents now subscribing, up from 34% in December 2022, and Advanced for developers, with 53% of developers subscribing (December 2022: 42%)
· Ongoing strategic innovation to increase the digitisation of sales and rental transactions, with the introduction of agent mortgage broker solutions for consumers and the full Lead to Keys digital journey for renters and rental agents
· Rebasing of our emissions targets and continued progress towards achieving them; alongside the launch of our Go Greener initiatives to help facilitate the property industry’s green transition, using our vast and unique property market dataset.
(1) Underlying operating profit is operating profit before the share-based payments (including the related National Insurance charge)
(2) Underlying basic EPS is profit for the year before share-based payments charges (including the related National Insurance and appropriate tax adjustments), divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding in the period
(3) Average Revenue per Advertiser (ARPA) is calculated as revenue from Agency and New Homes advertisers in a given month divided by the total number of advertisers during the month, measured as a monthly average over the year
(4) Source: Google analytics
Outlook
Our financial performance in 2023 reflects the resilience of our business model, our market leading position with UK consumers and the strength of the Rightmove network effect. We continue to build the business from this position of strength.
In 2024, we expect ARPA growth of £100-£110, driven by the new Optimiser Edge package, ongoing product uptake and contract renewals, with overall revenue growth of 7-9%.
Customer numbers are likely to drop slightly, given the ongoing uncertainty in the macro environment.
We will continue to invest in innovation for both our consumers and our customers, and into accelerating our strategic growth areas of commercial real estate, rental services and mortgage lead generation, while maintaining disciplined cost management. We anticipate an underlying operating margin(1) of 70% in 2024.
Our capital allocation policy remains unchanged. We prioritise organic investment, including any bolt-on M&A that might help us to accelerate the execution of our strategy. We then prioritise a progressive dividend policy, following which all remaining cash generated in the year is returned via share buybacks.
The strength of our business model, coupled with ongoing innovation, underpins the Board’s confidence in Rightmove’s outlook for 2024 and beyond.
(1) Underlying operating margin is defined as the underlying operating profit as a percentage of revenue.
Johan Svanstrom, Chief Executive Officer, said:
“In a year of economic uncertainty, consumers continued to trust Rightmove as the place to turn to help them make their move. Customers were able to choose from an expanded, more sophisticated product suite, to continue to drive business results in a changing market environment.
“Our financial performance in 2023 reflects the strength of our business model and our platform network effects.
“The results are underpinned by the commitment and talent of the Rightmove team, who are focused on innovation and delivering continuous improvement for our customers and consumers. We reshaped our strategy during 2023, setting out a plan to further digitise the property sector, expand our business, stretch our brand and accelerate the financial performance long term. We are looking forward to 2024 with confidence and to delivering further value to all stakeholders on our platform, progressing the ambitious Rightmove strategy.”
The Company will publish a pre-recorded audio results presentation at 7.00am today, followed by an audio Q&A session for analysts and investors at 9.30am with Johan Svanstrom, CEO, and Alison Dolan, CFO.
