Rightmove sees sell-off after results

The price of shares in online real estate portal Rightmove (LON:RMV) fell by 5.37% to 456.20p (as of 12:30 GMT) despite a 12% increase in total dividends. Revenues were up by 10% for the 2018 full year and management said that they were confident in the continued strength of the UK property advertising market during the current year, even with the uncertainties surrounding the coming departure from the European Union.

CEO Peter Brooks-Johnson said: “2018 was another strong year for Rightmove. We extended our market leadership and reinforced our position as the place consumers turn to first when thinking about moving home. In doing so, we demonstrated that Rightmove is a business which can continue to grow strongly even in uncertain times. We focus relentlessly on creating a more efficient marketplace, constantly innovating to provide deeper insights to our agent and developer customers, and an even simpler, more intuitive user experience for home hunters.

Visits and time spent on site both continued to grow, with over 1.5 billion visits from consumers over the year. The resilience of our customer base is shown by our stable membership numbers, with particularly notable growth coming from New Homes developments. I’m excited by our plans for 2019 as we continue to focus on innovation to make home moving easier“.