Trading update sinks Rightmove shares

Shares in FTSE 100 property portal Rightmove (LON:RMV) fell by 4.18% to 564.40p (as of 13:20 BST) after providing a COVID-19 update. The company said that while sales in England during the last 10 days were up relative to the comparable period, much of this was due to pent-up demand over the lockdown period and agency membership had dropped by 3.8% during the five months ended 31st May. The board continues to refrain from providing full-year guidance due to the level of uncertainty surrounding current market conditions.

CEO Peter Brooks-Johnson commented: “In these unprecedented times, I continue to be impressed by the ingenuity of our customers to continue operating in difficult circumstances and I thank them for the wealth of ideas which have inspired our recent innovations. I’m encouraged by the strong bounce back in home hunter demand since 13 May as England starts to move again and we look forward to welcoming our Scottish and Welsh customers back to the market. Rightmove is committed to continuing to innovate to make home moving easier and to play our part in supporting our customers’ long-term success.

I‘m immensely proud of the dedication and resilience shown by our employees throughout our business in responding to the challenging circumstances presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. The transition to remote working has been seamless and across the organisation our teams have worked tirelessly to ensure that we’ve been able to support our customer base and respond quickly to the changing needs of home hunters at these times“.