Higher profits at Rightmove as it squeezes agents hard for extra revenue

Rightmove has revealed perky results for 2022 in its annual accounts published today including a 9% jump in revenue year-on-year to £3.6 million and a profits jump of 7% to £241.3 million.

It’s also been squeezing agents hard – average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) is up 11% to £1,314 per month, the second-highest year ever for ‘absolute’ ARPA growth.

The portal has pinned these increases on agents continued to upgrade their packages and to increase their use of digital products – although some agents may be surprised to hear of this; Rightmove steeply raised its listing fees in December 2021, much to the ire of several leading agents on Twitter.

Shareholders in Rightmove will be very happy nevertheless – its final dividend for 2022 is up 8% to 5.2p (2021: 4.8p) per ordinary share.

Its ongoing share buy-back scheme continues too, revealing just how much spare cash the business generates.

The accounts show £197.7m of cash returned through share buybacks and dividends during 2022 compared to £238.8m the year before,

Average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) is up 11% to £1,314 per month second-highest year ever for absolute ARPA growth.

Arguably the only way the portal can increase its revenue and profits is to charge agents and developers more – its customer base remains flat.

Outgoing CEO Peter Brooks-Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, says: “The year’s changing housing market conditions demonstrated our customers’ resilience and ability to adapt and to continue to succeed.

“The softening from the covid-induced frenetic market towards a more normal market earlier in the year was disrupted in the final few months by the unexpected rapid mortgage rate increases. The strength of our results is a reminder of how effective and integral our new and existing products and services are in helping our customers in both faster and slower markets.

Continuing love

“The continuing love home movers have for Rightmove is testament to the team’s focus on providing an easy to use leading edge platform, enhanced with innovation which home movers want.

“There’s much more to come and exciting plans ahead for Rightmove. “As a company that will always be close to my heart, and as a shareholder, I look forward to watching Rightmove’s ongoing progress as it continues to make home moving easier.