Users still flocking to Rightmove

Property listings web site Rightmove has seen a strong increase in traffic so far in 2012 although the number of advertisers using its site is showing little change.

The company, which dominates the property portal scene to such an extent that its major rivals are merging in an attempt to compete more effectively, saw record revenue in 2011 increase by 19% to £97.0m from £81.6m in 2010, a tad below market expectations of revenue of £97.13m.

Profit before tax came in at £62.73m in 2011, versus market expectations of £66.13m, up from £52.25m in 2010. As with revenue, the profit performance also set a new high for the company.

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Underlying diluted earnings per share jumped 22% to 42.3p from 34.6p in 2010.

The underlying operating margin notched up by just over a couple of points to 71.5% from 69.4% in 2010.

Net cash at the end of 2011 was £21.8m, down from £23.1m at the end of 2010.

Having had a record year in 2011 the firm has been further buoyed by a strong start to 2012 and a 17% increase in average revenue per advertiser (ARPA), one of the business's key metrics. ARPA in 2011 was £443 per month, up from £379 per month in 2010. Average spend per advertiser started the year very healthily and is expected to rise further over the coming months, the company said.

"With a very strong start to 2012 we are seeing traffic on the Rightmove.co.uk website up over 20% on 2011. This has included a series of days which have been stronger for site traffic than any other day prior to this year. 2012 has the potential to be the first where we serve over 10bn page impressions. In addition, our mobile traffic continues to grow at an even faster rate than on

the main website," a joint statement from Ed Williams, the Managing Director, and Nick McKittrick, Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director, revealed.

A final dividend of 11.0p has been proposed, a chunky increase on the final dividend of 9.0p from the year before. The full year pay-out is 29% higher than 2010's 14p at 18.0p, ahead of market expectations of 17.17p.

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