Today, REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) revealed its financial results for the half year to 31 December 2017.
REA Group is the company behind Australia’s largest property site, realestate.com.au. It also owns realcommercial.com.au, flatmates.com.au, Spacely and Smartline. It also has investments in property sites in India, South East Asia and the USA.
The results below are comparing against the half year to 31 December 2016. Here are some of the main points from core operations:
- Operating income increased by 21% to $406.8 million
- Day to day profit, or EBITDA, rose by 21% to $242.8 million (what the heck does EBITDA mean?)
- EBITDA Margin increased to 60% from 59%
- Profit per share increased by 21%
- Dividend increased by 18%
REA Group said that its realestate.com.au website is outperforming the competition with more than 7.2 times total time on the site and more than 6.2 times total page views, the total has reached over 1 billion page view.
The company pointed to an increase in premiere ads as to why revenue improved so much, despite the decrease in listings.
REA Group is investing in its Asian business for long-term growth as the region move towards digital advertising. The Asian business increased revenue by 19% and is experiencing high double digit growth of views in the various countries that it operates.
The company owns 20% of Move Inc, which is the operator of Realtor.com in the US. Revenue grew by 17% and the share of losses declined from $1.8 million to $0.6 million.
REA group said that it expects the normal seasonality of revenue in Australia to continue, where the reported six months’ revenue is higher than the six months to June. The company said that the third quarter will show higher cost growth compared to higher revenue growth due to timing of expenses compared to the prior corresponding period and the impact of an earlier Easter.
REA Group CEO, Tracey Fellows, said “This is an exceptional result. Our growth is underpinned by the strength of our core Australian business. While there has been an impact because of fewer project launches, our growth has been boosted by a more positive residential listing mix.
We are especially pleased by the strong start to our Financial Services line of business, with more than 5.3 million calculator engagements since launch and the first settlements of realestate.com.au home loans.
The value of our investment to create the best consumer experiences is clear. We are reaching even greater audiences and creating new revenue opportunities. Realestate.com.au continues to be the number one place for property, with more than twice the visits of our nearest competitor across all platforms, including our app.”
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