Rightmove lifts dividend, upbeat on outlook

(Sharecast News) - Property portal Rightmove reported a rise in full-year revenue and operating profit on Friday and lifted its dividend as it said housing market activity gradually improved throughout the year. In the year to the end of December 2024, revenue rose 7% to £389.9m, as estate agency and new homes developer partners continued to upgrade their packages, increased their use of digital products and renewed contracts.

Underlying operating profit was up 4% at £273.9m and statutory operating profit was 1% higher at £256.3m. Rightmove declared a final dividend of 6.1p per share, up 7% on the previous year and taking the total dividend for 2024 to 9.8p a share, up 5%.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects revenue growth of 8-10% in 2025 as it benefits from the full-year impact of Optimiser Edge uptake and further product-led growth across its core business, among other things.

It expects around 1% growth in membership and average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) growth of £95 to £105 across estate agency and new homes developers.

Chief executive Johan Svanstrom said: "We delivered strong results, demonstrating yet again the resilience of Rightmove's business model. Consumers visited the Rightmove platform 2.3 billion times in 2024, and with the UK's largest selection of properties for sale and to rent they spent a combined 16.4 billion minutes searching and using our expanding set of valuable tools.

"We're continuing to invest in technology and products to make the platform even more useful and effective for both partners and consumers. 24 AI-enabled teams of software engineers delivered over 5,000 releases, features and enhancements in 2024.

"We have a clear strategy to further digitise the home moving market, powered by the UK's largest set of property data and insights. There is a long runway of opportunity to both broaden and deepen Rightmove's services on one connected platform, and our team is continuing to drive that momentum in 2025."