Rightmove‘s (LSE: RMV) shares shot up 6.5% this morning as the UK’s leading property website announced a strong set of half-year results.
The website operator said that revenue increased by 16% to £67.2m, with underlying EPS up 19% to 38.4p. Underlying operating profit also increased by 15% to £49.0m.
Website page impressions rose by 22% to 7.2bn, with the average revenue per advertiser up by 14% to £593 per month.
Rightmove also announced it would increase its interim dividend by 2p to 11p per share. A total of £37.4m has been returned to shareholders in dividends and share buybacks during the period.
Commenting on today’s results, CEO Nick McKittrick said:
“Rightmove’s popularity continues to grow. Traffic to our website and mobile platforms is up over 20% on a year ago reflecting our ongoing investment in our brand and our technology coupled with an improving housing market.
This has generated a record number of enquiries for our customers. We continue to develop our services to provide the most engaging experience for home movers and the best advertising platforms for our customers to reach the UK’s largest home moving audience and to win more business.”
The property website’s shares currently trade on a lofty forward P/E of around 30 — following five years of double-digit earnings growth, with two more currently predicted.
6 out of 11 brokers are currently rating the shares as a ‘strong buy’. However, whether they really do represent a ‘buy’ at this price, only you can decide.
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> Andy does not own the shares mentioned.
