REA Group Limited and its subsidiary companies announced results for the year ending 30 June 2012. Revenue rose 16% to $277.6 million, EBITDA increased by 22% to $126.0 million and net profit grew to $86.8 million, an increase of 29% on the prior corresponding period.
“In Australia, we achieved 15% growth across the residential, commercial and media businesses and surpassed one million downloads of our realestate.com.au mobile apps. Our high-growth Italian business achieved revenue growth of 35% and its first full-year positive EBITDA. In other international markets we achieved solid growth and continued to increase our leadership,” commented Greg Ellis, REA Group CEO and Managing Director.
Financial Results*
* The numbers contained in this release are derived from the audited REA Group Annual Financial Statements for the 12 months ended 30 June 2012
Australia – Responsiveness to market needs delivers double-digit growth
REA Group operates Australia’s number one residential and commercial property sites, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au, as well as REA Media which serves the property development and display media market.
Australia recorded revenue growth of 15% during 2012, despite the challenging local property market and a slight decrease in paying agents due to agency consolidation and contraction in Queensland and NSW. Residential revenue increased by 12%, commercial revenue grew by 17% and media and developer revenue grew by 31% due to increased take-up of value-added products across all segments.
realestate.com.au’s ‘Highlight’ product, developed in response to the market’s need for a mid-range residential listing product, recorded excellent month-on-month growth following its launch in December 2011.
realestate.com.au accounted for 61% of total minutes Australian spent on residential property portals in June 2012 (nearest competitor 17%) and the site attracted an average monthly Unique Audience of 2.9 million during 2012 (approx. 1.8 times that of nearest competitor)1. Mobile continues to be a growth platform for the Group and realestate.com.au’s iPhone®, iPad® and AndroidTM apps surpassed 1 million downloads in April 2012. realcommercial.com.au launched Australia’s first dedicated commercial property iPhone® app on 10 July 2012.
Italy – casa.it cements position as Italy’s #1 property site with significant lead on competitors
Italy’s market-leading property site, casa.it, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of REA Group following the acquisition of a minority interest in December 2011. Revenue grew by 35% to AUD$22.4 million (up 44% in local currency to €17.3 million) and the site recorded its first full-year profit (EBITDA) during 2012. The launch of the ‘Diamond Package’ for agents, offering high visibility for listings as well as a range of other features, was a significant driver of growth in both revenue and monthly average revenue per agent (ARPA).
Traffic to casa.it increased by 22% to 4.4 million Unique Browsers1 in June 2012, with the site increasing its lead over its nearest competitor during the period.
Other countries – Continued growth opportunities in Asia and Europe
The Group’s English and Chinese-language property site in Hong Kong, squarefoot.com.hk, saw a 57% increase in agents during 2012. The consolidation of print publications to a single publication available in English and Chinese languages led to a significant improvement in EBITDA due to reduced production costs and an increased focus on online growth.
The athome business, which operates the number one property site in Greater Luxembourg as well as sites in France and Germany, recorded double-digit revenue growth and a full- year EBITDA of AUD $2.6 million (€2.0 million). The business reported 16% ARPA growth and 10% growth in paying agents during the period. France continues to represent an excellent growth opportunity, with immoRegion.fr achieving 23% revenue growth in 2012.
1 Source Nielsen Online Ratings
Dividend
The directors have declared a 2012 final dividend of 20.5 cents per share fully franked, an increase of 28% on the 2011 final dividend. Total dividend for the year is 33.0 cents per share fully franked, up 27% on 2011. This represents approximately 50% of full year NPAT, at the top of the Group’s dividend payout ratio. The Board has determined the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) will not operate for the 2012 final dividend.
“Our strong financial performance enables us to continue to invest in our customers, the consumers who use our sites, and our 600-strong team who make it all possible,” said Greg Ellis.
“Technology is transforming the way we do business and as a digital leader we have a responsibility to help our customers prepare their own businesses for the digital world. We are committed to supporting our customers’ business success through product and technology innovations and other initiatives such as our Agent Innovation seminar series which we are rolling out across Australia,” he concluded.
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