Rightmove's Operating Profits Fell in 2024 Despite 7% Revenue Uptick

Rightmove, the UK's leading property portal, has released its trading update for the financial year 2024. The company saw resilient performance amid a recovering housing market with revenue of £390 million, aligning with its previous guidance of 7% to 9% growth. Highlights from Rightmove's report included:

• Annual revenue grew 7% to £389.9 million
• Adjusted underlying operating margin was at 70% with operating profits down 1% year-on-year to £256.3 million
• Underlying basic EPS was up 4% to 25.2 pence with the company returning £180 million to shareholders in 2024
• Average Revenue Per Advertiser (ARPA) rose £93 to £1,524 per month (£1,431 in 2023)
• Total membership increased by 1% to 19,047 (18,785 in 2023)

Commenting on the results, Rightmove CEO, 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.”

According to a company release, the slight decrease in operating profit in 2024 was related to the impact of one-off transaction charges totalling £9.2m related to the HomeViews acquisition, investment in Coadjute and expenses related to the unsolicited takeover offer from REA Group.

Rightmove's report highlighted the signs of recovery in the UK housing market and the positive effect that was having on its business. Recent interest rate cuts by the Bank of England and supportive government policies have bolstered market confidence. House price growth remains positive, albeit modest, and property transaction volumes are improving, benefiting estate agents and developers alike.

Positive tailwinds or not, Rightmove is famous among its customers for increasing prices each year like clockwork and 2024 was no different. Average revenue per agent grew 6.5% in 2024 as the portal pushed agents towards its top Optimiser Edge package. The company claims that 31% of independent agencies and 61% of new home developers are now subscribed to its top-tier offerings and aims to complete the migration to Optimiser Edge within the next 12 months.

Elsewhere, Rightmove's commercial, rental and mortgage businesses (identified in a 2024 Capital Markets Day as strategic growth areas) saw steady and encouraging growth. The commercial segment attracted 150 new customers while in rentals the end-to-end Lead to Keys product saw 500 signups and Rightmove's Financial Services business more than doubled yearly revenues to £4.7m.

Rightmove says that it invested heavily in innovation in 2024 shipping over 5,000 product updates. While Svanstrom did not reveal much in the way of specifics in a heavily edited company interview, the company claims that it is embracing AI and told onlookers to "watch this space" for new AI-enabled updates.

Looking ahead, Rightmove anticipates a modest acceleration in revenue growth for 2025, driven by the full-year impact of Optimiser Edge, continued product-led growth in its core business, and advancements in its strategic growth areas of Commercial and Mortgage. The portal expects membership growth of around 1% and ARPA growth of between £95 - £105. As for the much commented-on profit margin, Rightmove expects it to stay at 70% in 2025.