30 Jan 2018 07:00
30 January 2018
ZPG PLC
AGM TRADING STATEMENT
ZPG Plc (LSE:ZPG) ("ZPG" or the "Company"), which owns and operates some of the UK's most trusted digital brands that help empower smarter property and household decisions including Zoopla, uSwitch, Money, PrimeLocation and Hometrack, announces a trading update for the period 1 October 2017 to 31 December 2017 (the "Period") ahead of the Company's Annual General Meeting to be held at 10.00 a.m. today.
The Company has had a good start to the financial year across both divisions, with its websites and mobile apps attracting 53 million average monthly visits during the Period.
In the Property division, Management is encouraged by the ongoing demand for its best-in-class marketing, software and data products as we continue to help our partners market, manage and maximise their business opportunities. During the period, ZPG signed multiple new long-term portal listing and data services agreements with some of the UK's largest estate agents and mortgage lenders.
The Comparison division experienced solid switching volumes across each of the energy, communications and financial services verticals. We continue to make good progress on the integration of our products across the uSwitch and Money platforms, enabling even more consumers to save money off a broader range of household bills.
Since the end of the Period, ZPG has successfully refinanced its debt through the issue of new bond and bank facilities. The new debt package strengthens the Company's financial position by offering it increased financial flexibility, providing a more stable and appropriate capital structure and allowing it to secure attractive interest rates for the next 5 years.
Outlook
ZPG has continued to perform well across both divisions and Management remains comfortable with financial year 2018 market expectations1. We look forward to updating the market further at our half year results on 23 May 2018.
Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of ZPG Plc said, "We have had a good start to the 2018 financial year with continued strong consumer traffic to our platforms and strong partner demand for our products. We are delighted to have signed further multi-year agreements with a number of leading estate agencies and mortgage lenders. And the addition of Money and Calcasa to our portfolio has materially strengthened both our consumer offering and partner proposition across the business."
Ends
For further information, please contact:ZPG PlcLawrence Hall, Director of Communications - lawrence.hall@zpg.co.uk / 07890 078 945Rachael Malcolm, Head of Investor Relations - rachael.malcolm@zpg.co.uk / 07774 671 082
MaitlandJames Isola 020 7379 5151
1. As at 29 January 2018 Company collated consensus figures for FY18 Revenue and EBITDA were £310m and £122m, respectively. These figures include only those analysts who have published updated figures since our full year results and announcement of Calcasa acquisition
About ZPG Plc (www.zpg.co.uk)
ZPG Plc (LSE:ZPG) ("ZPG") owns and operates some of the UK's most trusted digital brands that help empower smarter property and household decisions including Zoopla, uSwitch, Money, PrimeLocation and SmartNewHomes. We are also one of the leading residential property data and software providers with a range of products including Hometrack, Calcasa, TechnicWeb, Ravensworth, Alto, Jupix, ExpertAgent, PropertyFile and MoveIT. Our websites and apps attract over 50 million visits per month and over 25,000 business partners use our services. ZPG was founded in 2007 and has a highly experienced management team, led by Founder & CEO, Alex Chesterman OBE.
Zoopla is the UK's most comprehensive property website, helping consumers to research the market and find their next home by combining hundreds of thousands of property listings with market data and local information.
uSwitch is the UK's leading comparison website for home services switching, helping consumers to find the best deal and save money on their gas, electricity, broadband, TV, phone and other products.
Money is one of the UK's leading financial services comparison websites, helping consumers compare products including mortgages, loans, credit cards, bank accounts and insurance from more than 600 providers.
PrimeLocation is one of the UK's leading property websites, helping house-hunters in the middle/upper tiers of the market find their dream home from the top estate agents, letting agents and property developers.
SmartNewHomes is the UK's leading website dedicated exclusively to new homes, helping buyers understand the market and search for new build homes from all the leading property developers across the country.
Hometrack and Calcasa are leading providers of automated property valuations and statistical property market insights in the UK, the Netherlands and Australia to partners including mortgage lenders, developers, investors, government agencies, housing associations and others.
TechnicWeb is the UK's leading estate agency website design and hosting business specialising in designing and operating fully-responsive websites for the property sector.
Ravensworth is the UK's leading provider of print solutions to estate agents and offers a comprehensive range of products and services for every stage of the property marketing journey from listing through to post-sale.
Alto, Jupix and ExpertAgent are some of the leading cloud-based estate agency and property management software systems used by thousands of property professionals across the UK for the day-to-day management of inventory, marketing and communications.
PropertyFile and MoveIT are innovative tools used by estate agents to improve communication and efficiency with their customers and to allow them to generate additional revenue streams via referrals.