Domain Posts Yearly Results and Sees Record EBITDA Margins

Australian portal operator Domain Group has today released the results of its financial year 2021. Headline figures from the company's presentation include:

• Revenue increased by 10% on a year-on-year basis to A$ 289 million
• EBITDA increased 18% on a year-on-year basis to A$ 100 million
• EBITDA margin for the year was the highest since the company went public at 35%

Domain's results come off the back of a searingly hot domestic housing market, much like those of its competitor REA Group released a few weeks previously. Although not as high as REA's quoted 15% increase, Domain's reported 11% increase in listings volumes over the year and a price increase in July helped the company bump up controllable yield to 13% from 6% in FY20.

Revenue from its core listings business was up by an impressive 19.6% while revenue from its Media, Developers and Commercial and its Data Solutions segments saw modest gains of 7% and 8% respectively. In particular, the company's buy-now-pay-later listings product saw uptake almost double in Q4.

Company CEO Jason Pellegrino was also keen to highlight the successes of Domain's ancillary services and products in his earnings call, pointing out the 157% increase in revenue recorded by the firm's RealTime Agent software product and a 33% increase in home loan accounts made over the period.

Speaking generally about Domain's last 12 months, Pellegrino said:

"The efforts of the entire Domain team are reflected in the results we have reported today. Their creativity and hard work have ensured that the velocity of Domain’s Marketplace innovation has not skipped a beat in the face of ongoing COVID-19-related disruption.

The strong FY21 performance, and the resilience the business has displayed through periods of uncertainty, demonstrate the potential for Domain as we evolve our business model to continue to inspire confidence for all of life’s property decisions."

Domain's share price was up 4.7% (A$ 4.89) as ASX investors reacted to its latest results. Like many property portal operating companies, Domain's share price has seen a very healthy rebound from historic lows in the second quarter of 2020 when the stock's price hit A$ 1.89.