ZPLA appears to have cemented its position as the number two property platform
Companies: Rightmove plc, ZPG
Property website Zoopla has announced a huge increase in revenue and earnings in its full-year results, reporting revenue up 84%, EBITDA up 77%, and EPS up 51%.
The group saw strong traffic throughout the year, with over 600m visits to its websites and mobile apps, 23m leads generated for partners, and 30.3m customer comparison leads generated.
Today's results are particularly important for Zoopla, as the FTSE 250 firm has faced tough competition in the past two years due to the property portal wars between OnTheMarket, Zoopla, and Rightmove.
Last year, soon after its launch, it was reported that OTM had had an instant impact on Zoopla, resulting in an 11% fall in clients, but today's results would appear to suggest that Zoopla has emerged as the number two platform.
OTM took a hit earlier this year in a row with leading estate agents over its fees, and Zoopla's web traffic dwarfs that of OTM, with nearly 6x as many visits to its property site each month.
Operationally ZPLA grew its UK Agency partners by 5% and increased its listings inventory 10%, bringing the total number of partners at the end of the period to 23,000.
It invested in a number of "leading and innovative sector relevant tech start-ups" and acquired Property Software Group and Technicweb, the cloud-based estate agency. The UK estate agency industry has a long tradition of big players acquiring newcomers, and by ZPLA keeping its finger on the pulse, management is ensuring the business keeps up with the innovation and disruption the industry is facing.
Commenting on the results, Founder and CEO of Zoopla Alex Chesterman said the business was stronger and more diversified than ever, as he welcomed another "very successful" year:
"We delivered record revenues and Adjusted EBITDA of £197.7million and £77.1million respectively and continued to grow our huge and highly engaged consumer audience with over 600m visits to our websites and apps during the year.
We continue to lead innovation in the property and comparison markets as we work towards fulfilling our mission of providing the most useful resources for consumers when finding, moving and managing their home and being the most effective partner for related businesses.
... The acquisition of Property Software Group has been transformational, allowing us to offer the UK's only end-to-end solution for property professionals including software, workflow, CRM and marketing tools. As a Group, we now have significant cross-sell opportunities with over 23,000 unique Property partners taking at least of one of our services."
Zoopla's share price increased 7% in early trading and is up 50% since July.
