Rightmove's traffic grew 10 per cent in 2014 to 15.4 billion pages and its leads to agents grew 19 per cent to 42.8m according to its annual results out this morning.
The portal's revenue is up 19 per cent and its operating profit up 20 per cent as it hammers home its position as the country's dominant property portal.
It also says its number of estate agency and new homes advertisers is up 5.0 per cent to 19,304 - up from 18,425 a year earlier.
Shareholders are to receive a total dividend of 35p for the year, up a quarter from the previous year's 28p.
Rightmove says it has lost only 260 branches to OnTheMarket, a rival portal launched last month. Chief executive Nick McKittrick says: We are delighted that nearly every agent in the UK has chosen to remain on Rightmove following the recent launch of a new entrant, OnTheMarket.com, cementing Rightmove as the best property advertising option in the UK. As at the end of February customer numbers were unchanged from our record year end position."
He also claims that his portal's popularity with the British home moving public "has gone from strength to strength as more home movers visited more often and spent more time on Rightmove than ever in 2014" adding that "the trend continues with a record 100 million visits and 1.5 billion pages of property viewed in January as more home movers visit the only place with one million properties in the UK.
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Comments
I only visit this site these days to read Simon Shinerock's comments. They make me laugh so hard. Keep going Simon, you're a ray of sunlight.
"Wonderful except for one problem, what if you are wrong"
You fail to see the irony in this one sentence, Mr Shinerock.
Ok, so if you are right, OTM will become the dominant property portal for estate agents and finally free the industry from being in the pockets of any and all others. Wonderful except for one problem, what if you are wrong What will the consequences be My view is that OTM simply does not have enough support to damage Rightmove and I can't see how a few years will make any difference. Real disruption comes when the game is moved on, not moved back, look at how Google and Facebook burst on the scene and grew exponentially from the start. OTM is founded on the wrong principles, it wants a captive market instead of a free one, it's is anti change, anti innovation, it is in effect a powerful (ish) interest group who shamelessly puts its members interests above those of its customers. I know a lot of the support from OTM comes from the belief that members haven't got a lot to lose, they don't believe they need Zoopla and Rightmove right now so they have chosen Rightmove. But, if the strategy is successful where this goes is back to the Monopoly, if not it leads the members down a blind alley. You may think that your customers don't know and don't care but I disagree, I think this kind of ideology, being wrong, has a way of undermining those who subscribe to it. I learned a long time ago that the biggest threat to success is negativity, OTM is hypocritical if you profess to put your customers first and if you don't, well a telling them is a poor idea, ask Gerald Ratner.
@Simon..."All you have achieved is to strengthen Rightmove"....
Let's see where Rightmove are in 2, 3, 4 years shall we. Rightmove was always going to be the winner in the short term although these figures only go up to 31 Dec 2014 as alluded by PeeBee.
It's only the beginning!
@Phil Spencers mate: you've forgotten that of the 4,600 at launch, not 100% were on two portals to start with, and therefore not all needed to drop a portal to comply with the one-other-portal rule.
If I were you, or them for that matter, I'd do the same, clearly they have more of a vested interest than the posters here, they are the ones who have made the grand gesture, you included now. I would obviously prefer it if a few more had the equanimity to visit here once in a while to balance things up. When all is said and done though, it's the only issue to provoke any real interest over there. I am carrying on with my PRS campaign, I've persuaded Zoopla to fund a survey and do some proper research to counter the likes of Shelter. I have had two emails from Campbell Robb now, the second of which promises to keep my ideas in mind when they revisit the issue, we shall see. As far as OTM is concerned, I'm really really appalled at the ignorance and arrogance of the whole shambolic proposition, irony upon irony, when it all turns to sh1t I will not be sympathetic.
" I kind of get why but I'm afraid you have let your heart rule your head."
Have I
[b]Why[/b] do you think that
"As I said at the beginning of all this, two wrongs don't make a right"
How many does it take, then Answers, on a postcard, please...
"I rarely bother going 'over there' anymore as you just hear the same old tripe from the same old blow hards, it's nice having a pub but when they get too clique they lose their charm"
You will notice that very few cross the road over here to visit your glittery whine bar, either. They seem to enjoy their own company; you prefer your comfortable setting here - me I'll gatecrash anywhere I can.
When you sit astride a fence, with a foot on the ground each side, then it would be rude not to...
PeeBee I realise you are now off the fence, I kind of get why but I'm afraid you have let your heart rule your head. As I said at the beginning of all this, two wrongs don't make a right, I actually prefer dealing with commercial portal specialists to a bunch of elite estate agents looking out for themselves. This is a real fiasco with the only winner being the leviathan who was supposed to be the target. I rarely bother going 'over there' anymore as you just hear the same old tripe from the same old blow hards, it's nice having a pub but when they get too clique they lose their charm
"Rightmove have fudged the figures!"
No change there, then...
OTM claim to have 4600 branches at lauch, of which 90% (4,140) have dropped Zoopla, this means that the remaining 10% (460) have dropped Rightmove and not 260. Rightmove have fudged the figures!
Okay... now that you lot have had your fun poking a stick at OTM - let's look at the ONLY FACT that is relevant to your bitchiness - the fact you choose to ignore in the rush to snipe:
Rightmove says IT HAS LOST 260 BRANCHES to OnTheMarket.
I'll save you the maths - that equates to approximately 2.1 MILLION lost revenue. In ONE DAY.
The figures referred to are up to 31/12/14. BEFORE OTM even started - and BEFORE the 260 Branches came off.
Let's meet here in 12 months and compare notes - shall we... when you actually have something to compare.
Almost tempting to buy RM shares. Agents Mutual supporters, are clearing working very hard to push this and there profits up, and it is working a treat!
There is ABSOLUTELY no doubt that OTM have given Rightmove near monopoly status. If OTM want to break this, drop the one portal rule, allow agents to list where they want and when OTM starts to really work, agents will have more confidence to walk away from elsewhere. A portal should succeed on its merits - not on restrictive business practices.
Attention OTM'rs, OK, you have had your fun, made your protest, stamped your feet, well done, we all admire your cojones but surely you can admit that enough is enough. All you have achieved is to strengthen Rightmove, something I pointed out during my fierce opposition to OTM last year. The only thing I underestimated is just how stupid stubborn and naeve some otherwise successful agents can be. Drop your ridiculous exclusivity rule, stop supporting Rightmove and admit your whole strategy was and is a colossal failure
It really is astonishing that so many agents cannot see the potential damage they are doing to themselves by allowing the Rightmove locomotive to accelerate away. 125m of profits - 5 times Agents Mutual's aspirational revenue target, and some agents have convinced themselves that 'eventually we will drop Rightmove'. Newsflash - you never will and by doing what you are doing you are stitching the rest of us up. Can you really be this stupid :p