OnTheMarket increased its revenues by 22% in the year ended 31st January 2021 and recorded a profit of £2.4m for the first time, up £11.6m on the previous year.
The portal has also made a positive start to FY22 with current trading in line with the Board’s expectations.
Advertiser numbers increased to 13,285, up 4%, as the property portal continues to increase profitability and agency numbers.
At 31 January 2020, 12,687 branches were listed at OnTheMarket.com, with average monthly leads per advertiser increasing 22% year-on-year to 117.
Given the strong performance, strength of balance sheet and confidence in the future, the company will be repaying to HMRC the grants of £449,000 it received under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Year ended 31 January 2021 2020 Change
Group revenue £23.0m £18.8m 22%
Adjusted operating profit / (loss) £2.4m £(9.2)m £11.6m
Operating profit / (loss) £1.2m £(11.7)m £12.9m
Profit / (loss) after tax £2.7m £(11.5)m £14.2m
Year-end cash £10.7m £8.7m 23%
ARPA £142 £122 16%
Average advertisers listed 13,285 12,740 4%
Total advertisers at 31 Jan 12,687 13,364 (5)%
Traffic/visits 267m 237m 13%
Average monthly leads per advertiser 117 96 22%
OTM Market update:
Strategic and corporate developments
An in-depth strategic assessment has been completed and the business has a clear vision to build a differentiated, technology-enabled property business providing services for agents, housebuilders, advertisers and consumers that offers ‘best in class’ products and platforms across the broader property ecosystem, consisting of:
An engaging and relevant property portal;
Software solutions to meet evolving customer needs;
The provision of market leading data and market intelligence; and
A leading property communications and marketing capability, both on behalf of, and in conjunction with, our customers.
Following the year end OnTheMarket has announced a number of corporate developments including the acquisition of the remaining 80% of Glanty Limited, a property technology business which specialises in providing solutions to the UK residential estate and lettings sectors.
In addition, there is a new media partnership with Reach plc, the UK’s largest commercial news publisher, to enhance consumer engagement and support our agents’ brands.
Also new agreements with both Canopy and Sprift Technologies, to provide agent customers with free tenant referencing checks and enhanced Market Appraisal Guides; and the launch of three new areas of website functionality to support interactions between agents and consumers.
Given the strong performance, strength of balance sheet and confidence in the future, the company will be repaying to HMRC the grants of £449k it received under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Outlook
Positive start to FY22 with current trading in line with the Board’s expectations.
Marketing activity has resumed and is driving consumer engagement and ARPA is anticipated to continue to grow as agent conversions to paying contracts annualise in FY22, FY21 discounts unwind and as the migration of customers on reduced rate contracts towards full-tariff continues.
The Group has a strong balance sheet which the Board has a reasonable expectation is sufficient to support the Group’s organic growth strategy. Having achieved profitability in FY21, the Board expects to be able to invest further operationally into the business and return to normalised levels of marketing expenditure without damaging the Group’s prospects for the foreseeable future, assuming no materially adverse unforeseen circumstances arise.
Cash at 31 May 2021, after the acquisition of Glanty, was £10.0m (before borrowings and deferred creditor payments within Glanty of £0.2m).
The Board believes that the Group’s recent considerable operational and financial progress, together with a substantial, loyal advertiser base, provides a strong platform for the implementation of its strategy, in order to drive long-term profitable growth.
Jason Tebb, chief executive officer, commented: “I am delighted to be reporting a strong performance in my first set of results. Despite the unprecedented conditions we have faced, we have continued to grow the business and achieve profitability. Our operational and financial progress is a testament to the efforts of team and, since joining OnTheMarket in December, I have been incredibly impressed by them and the underlying strength of the business.
“OnTheMarket has come a long way since its launch by agents in 2015. From this position of strength, it is now time for the next stage of our development and our new strategy is based on a clear vision of building a tech-enabled property business. We will become more than just a portal and provide best in class products and services that benefit agents, housebuilders and consumers.
“We have achieved a great deal in the last six months. We have engaged and listened to agents. We know what they want and their support and belief in the business remains strong. We have completed the acquisition of Glanty, a property technology business, and launched a number of commercial partnerships to enhance our offering. We have launched a number of new products at OnTheMarket.com to drive greater interaction between consumers and customers. Our agents, housebuilder customers, partners and colleagues are all aligned, and, with a lot more to come, I am confident that we will continue to increase value to all our stakeholders.
“We look to the future with great excitement. The UK property market continues to be very active and our significant market opportunity remains. With our strong foundations and a new vision and strategy, we are well positioned to succeed.”
Comments (20)
Happy to see a company listening to their customers
There are some very real questions that the recent OTM statements produce . Jason Tebb has done a good job of building bridges and listening to agents , I applaud him for that and I love the fact the portals outside the duopoly are seemingly gaining Traction and popularity , Boomin for example have added circa 1300 offices in April and May combined and listened to agent and customer feedback to make improvements , OneDome slowly and quietly build traffic and lead numbers . The momentum is with the newcomers and that’s a good thing as you reduce reliance on the established portals which In my mind is crucial to the industry .
As I said though some very big questions The OTM statement raises below , it would be awesome if Jason Tebb could step up and answer them .
Jason we would love to understand the following:
1. How can you compete when your R&D investment is less this year than last and not increasing going forward?
2. How can you compete when you invested £5.7m less in marketing this year and not increasing it next financial year.
3. You have lost 15% of agents and are forecasting the agents to remain the same going forward. How many agents do you expect to lose when the five year contracts come to an end?
4. Strangely no headline about agent numbers down year on year from 12470 to 10645 why is this the case.
5.What percentage of your current members are actually paying to be a member and is it fair that the early supporters are abs always have paid yet their competitors are listing for free .
Did Boomin pay you to post this?
The conversion of agents on free contracts to fee paying is impressive. Although EA branch numbers have fallen to reflect this.
No doubt Boomin’ have taken on most of the freebie agents (who will disappear when they have to start paying) but they seem to have very little presence in most areas. Will Boomin’ be forced to extend the freebies (as OTM did) or will they accept (as OTM did) that they have the wrong people in charge and handover to someone less marmite?
OTM should be able to grow steadily as RM continues to devour it’s own tail.
RM charge 7/8 x what OTM charge (ARPA £1103 v. ARPA £150) – do they offer 7/8 x the value in terms of leads ?
This is the problem with a listed company.
“Impressive results”
“Jason is turning it around”
“Share price up”
However for those of us on the ground that are not just lettings based, the leads are a fraction of other portals and the ones that come through are woeful.
No doubt Jason is the right guy, he is just at the wrong company. Its a dead duck.
Many congratulations
Not much advertising spend though…….agents need eyeballs on their stock……..
Impressive results!
Well done Jason.
Do you have my bank details for my first Dividend since launch…
How exciting.
Jason seems like a nice guy, but as profits grow agents will realise its at their expense. The only way that OTM can boast about their performance to the city is by ‘doing a Rightmove’ and squeezing more and more ARPA from their customers. I wonder how Jason will handle that dichotomy?
Well those agents which have been recuited are gifted shares so as shareholders they will partipate in any profits increase by way of dividends
Tebb seems like a hard working and credible guy. Best of luck to him. He’ll definitely get some credit for announcing maiden profits.
Agents need to set up a not for profit portal.
Doesnt anyone get annoyed at watching your £££ being spent by rm,zoopla,otm on TV constantly?
Lol obviously not , u loons
They need to advertise to get their brands in front of customers.
A new yacht for the owners might rub me up the wrong way, but adverts seem like a legitimate use of funds.
I can’t imagine agents will be annoyed when their dividend payments start coming through… As shareholders we will personally benefit from profits increasing and the share price rising. For OTM to turn their first profit during a global pandemic shows they are totally on the right track. I say good luck to them!
Congratulations Jason. Your energy and actions have been very impressive in your first few months at OTM.
We look forward to hearing more about your plans to future successes.
That’s one in the eye for Questor at the Daily Telegraph .Not bad at all turning a loss into a profit in your maiden results Portal wars in full flow .
Well done Jason and the team behind him.
It takes a special kind of person to dislike praise. I know it will really irk you but you have my sympathy; having envy of those deserving congratulations puts you in a desperately sad place.
Bless You Robert.