(Alliance News) - OnTheMarket PLC on Thursday said its loss widened in the first half of its financial year as administrative expenses climbed on sales and IT investment, with results in line with its most recent expectations.
The company posted a GBP7.1 million pretax loss for the six months ended July 31, widened from GBP5.7 million the year before as administrative costs climbed 23% to GBP14.8 million from GBP12.0 million. These expenses were attributed to investment in OnTheMarket's sales and IT teams.
OnTheMarket operates property search portal OnTheMarket.com, which allows users to buy, let, rent, and sell property. The firm cut its annual guidance in late September, responding to deteriorating market conditions in the UK property sector.
First half revenue rose 14% to GBP8.0 million from GBP7.0 million. In its September guidance, the firm cut its annual revenue forecast for its year to January 2020 to between GBP18.0 million and GBP18.5 million, which would be 27% to 31% higher than the year before figure of GBP14.2 million.
Chief Executive Ian Springett said results were in line with expectations.
"Our recent guidance indicated that agents had not committed to full-tariff, long-term paying contracts at the pace expected, however they have responded positively to the changes to our offering," he commented.
Springett added: "We have recently supplemented our offering to agents with the introduction of lower-priced, short-term offers, with the aim of maximising the number of paying agents and migrating all to full-tariff contracts progressively. Take-up of these short-term offers has led to an encouraging acceleration in the rate at which agents are converting onto paying contracts."
Shares in OnTheMarket were down 2.1% at 81.75 pence in London on Thursday morning.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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