Rightmove Plc - Statement re: guidance update

6 August 2024

Rightmove plc

Rightmove plc

Contract update and confirmation of guidance

Rightmove plc, the UK's number one property portal, updates that its contract with OpenRent will terminate with effect from 1 September 2024, as conditions for OpenRent's ongoing Rightmove membership could not be agreed. 

Rightmove reiterates its FY 2024 revenue and margin guidance. We continue to anticipate revenue growth of 7-9% and an underlying operating margin of 70%, when excluding the one-off acquisition costs and Coadjute investment.  These are both in line with market expectations.   

OpenRent is classified as an online lettings agent within Rightmove's Estate Agency (Lettings) sub-segment and represents approximately 700 branch equivalents, with less than 8% of Rightmove's lettings listings in July 2024.   As has been seen recently, market dynamics - within lettings in particular - are fluid.  While we remain confident of delivering revenue and margin in line with the guidance above, the precise mix of membership and ARPA may vary.  Our current estimate is that membership will decline by up to 3% year-on-year, with a year-on-year increase in ARPA of £90-£100. 

OpenRent's landlord customers will therefore lose access to the UK's largest property-seeking audience. Rightmove remains the place for consumers to find more UK properties than any other portal, and in H1 2024, delivered 8 times the number of properties rented than the next largest portal.(1)  Over 80% of all consumer time spent on property portals continues to be spent on Rightmove.(2)

Resale listings on Rightmove are entirely unaffected by this change. 

Enquiries:

Investor Relations Investor.Relations@rightmove.co.uk

Powerscourt  rightmove@powerscourt-group.com

About Rightmove

• Rightmove has the UK's largest selection of properties for sale and to rent, adds more listings than anyone else, and over 80% of all time spent on property portals is on Rightmove.
• Rightmove's vision is to give everyone the belief that they can make their move by giving people the best place to turn and return to for access to tools and expertise to make it happen.
• People can search Rightmove for residential resale, new homes, rentals, commercial property and overseas properties and use tools and information including getting a Mortgage in Principle, checking local sold prices, property valuations, market trends, maps and schools.
• Partners include the following key groups: estate agents, lettings agents, new homes developers, rental operators, commercial property operators and overseas property agents.
• Using the UK's largest housing datasets, we issue a number of regular reports to track housing market indicators: our monthly House Price Index (established 2002), our quarterly Rental Trends Tracker (established 2015), and a weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker (established 2023).
• Founded in 2000, Rightmove listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and is a member of the FTSE 100 index.

Notes:

(1) Source: RLTS tenant survey, >100,000 tenants (January 2024 - June 2024). Question: "How did you find the property you are applying for?"

(2) Source: Comscore MMX® Desktop only + Comscore Mobile Metrix® Mobile Web & App, Total Audience, Custom-defined list of Rightmove sites, zoopla.co.uk, primelocation.com, onthemarket.com, January 2024 to June 2024, United Kingdom.