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Rightmove's chief executive steps down as real estate website's full year profits rise

Published: 09:23 24 Feb 2017 GMT

house
Rightmove's full year profits benefit from strong housing demand

Rightmove plc (LON:RMV) has today announced the departure of its chief executive as it reported a rise in full year profits.

The UK property website said Nick McKittrick will step down as chief executive at the annual general meeting on 9 May and will be succeeded by chief operating officer Peter Brooks-Johnson. McKittrick will remain on the board until 30 June to ensure a smooth transition.

Alongside the announcement, Rightmove posted an 18% increase in operating profit to £161.6mln for the year to 31 December 2016, compared to £137.2mln the previous year.

Revenues rose 15% to £22.0mln from £192.1mln as a record number of estate agents used the website to list their properties.

Traffic grew 10% to an average of 120mln visits per month while time spent on the site climbed 5% to almost 1bn minutes per month.

However, the number of leads the website generated for its clients dropped 6% to 47mln due to the lack of supply of homes for sale. 

Rightmove said there had been less activity in the housing market following the Brexit vote last June but believes the outlook for the UK online property advertising market remains positive despite the uncertainties surrounding the referendum.

“Consumers and customers are becoming increasingly digital and therefore spend continues to transition from traditional advertising channels,” McKittrick said.

The final dividend was raised 19% to 32.0p per share from 27.0p.

Shares fell 4.69% to 4,4046p in morning trading. 

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