12 Feb 2015 07:00
12 February 2015
ZOOPLA PROPERTY GROUP PLC
TRADING STATEMENT
· Record levels of consumer traffic with 50.5 million visits in January
· 60% of visits now via mobile with more than 5 million app downloads
· Continued investment in brand marketing and platform innovation
· Current trading remains robust with record levels of leads per listing
Zoopla Property Group Plc (LSE:ZPLA) (the "Group" or "ZPG"), the digital media business and operator of leading UK online property portals including Zoopla and PrimeLocation, announces its trading statement based on performance of the business between 1 October 2014 and 31 January 2015 (the "Period").
The Group has grown its reach and audience significantly, resulting in record levels of consumer traffic to its websites and mobile apps, with 42.3m average monthly visits during the Period, an increase of 14% compared with the same period last year and with a record total of 50.5 million visits during January. Mobile devices now account for over 60% of the monthly visits and are up 42% compared with the same period last year, as consumers continue to use the Group's services to search and research the property market at work, home and on the move.
We continue to invest in marketing our brands and developing our platform to help our users find their next home and our members market their listings more efficiently. Our 'Smarter' marketing campaign continues and is delivering strong results. And having launched new, unique tools including commute time search, price per square foot and comparable reports over the past few months we continue to innovate and develop numerous further exciting features for both our users and members which will be rolled out over the coming months.
As guided in November 2014, the number of agency members has been impacted in the short term by the launch of Agents' Mutual and its restrictive 'only one-other portal' rule. The number of total advertising members at the end of the Period has fallen 11% over the past year to 16,967 (Jan 2014: 18,999); of which 13,4021 are UK agency branches (Jan 2014: 16,059); 2,793 are new home developments (Jan 2014: 2,644); 635 are overseas agency branches (Jan 2014: 296); and 137 are commercial agency branches, part of the new commercial channel which was launched at the end of last year.
Current trading & outlook
Our consumer-led approach and proposition continues to drive strong engagement on our websites and mobile apps as consumers increasingly rely on the unique search tools and data we provide. We offer the best value digital marketing proposition available to property professionals with existing members benefiting from increased exposure and enquiries and record leads per listing and branch. Whilst we expect some limited further UK agency churn, this is likely to be partly offset by the return of some members who have found the Agents' Mutual restrictive 'one-other portal rule' damaging to their business. The Group is trading in line with management expectations and is well positioned for long-term growth.
Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of Zoopla Property Group Plc said, "We are delighted that our focus on delivering the best features and tools for consumers has resulted in record traffic with over 50 million visits to the Group's sites in January. We continue to benefit from the shift to mobile and have now passed the significant milestone of over 5 million app downloads as consumers increasingly use our services to search and research the property market at work, home and on the move."
"We believe that Agents' Mutual remains a short-term event and that its success will be determined by whether consumers engage with it. So far it appears to have got off to a very slow start with consumers. We continue to enhance the services we provide to our users and the value we offer to our members and our record traffic highlights the success of this approach. ZPG remains the best value digital marketing platform for UK property professionals and our focus remains on building our brands and business for the long-term and providing the most useful property resources to our users along with being the most effective partner for our members."
1 The UK agency number includes an estimated 500 branches that served notice in January and are no longer listing but are still paying members as at the end of the Period. The number of UK agency branches at the end of FY14 (30 September 2014) was 16,373.
Analyst conference call at 8am. Dial-in details as follows:
UK Toll Number: 020 3139 4830UK Toll-Free Number: 0808 237 0030
Conference code: 66029647#
For further information, please contact:
Zoopla Property Group Plc
Lawrence Hall, Head of Communications lawrence.hall@zpg.co.uk/ 020 7620 4618 / 07890 078 945
Rachael Malcolm, Investor Relations Manager rachael.malcolm@zpg.co.uk/ 0207 620 4790 / 07774 671 082
Maitland
Liz Morley / James Isola 020 7379 5151
About Zoopla Property Group Plc
Zoopla Property Group Plc is a digital media business that owns and operates some of the UK's leading online property brands including Zoopla, Primelocation, SmartNewHomes and HomesOverseas. Each of our brands has a distinct market position and attracts a unique audience, delivering increased exposure and enquiries for our members.
Over 16,500 property professionals advertise on our websites and mobile apps which attract over 40 million visits per month and generate over 2 million enquiries per month for our member estate/letting agents and property developers.
Zoopla is the UK's most comprehensive property website, focused on empowering users with the resources they need to make better-informed property decisions. We help consumers both find their next home and research the market by combining hundreds of thousands of property listings with market data, local information and community tools.
PrimeLocation is one of the UK's leading property websites, focused on helping house-hunters in the middle and upper tiers of the market find their next home with listings advertised by all of the top estate and letting agents across the UK.
SmartNewHomes is the UK's #1 website exclusively for new build properties and lists new developments available for sale from all the leading UK housebuilders.
HomesOverseas is the UK's leading website dedicated entirely to helping users find the perfect holiday property abroad.
In addition to operating our own websites we exclusively power the property search facility on a number of the UK's biggest websites which means that we offer our members exposure to an unrivalled property audience in the UK. Our exclusive partnerships include The Times, The Telegraph, Independent, Evening Standard, The Daily Mail, Homes & Property, AOL, Homes24 and many more.
Zoopla Property Group Plc was founded in 2007 and has a highly-experienced management team, led by Founder & CEO, Alex Chesterman.