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Property evaluation platform Zoopla (LON:ZPG) revenue reaches record highs, but higher costs relating to acquisitions affected profit margins.
House-hunting platform Zoopla, which recently rebranded as ZPG, enjoyed a record number of visits on its website and in turn saw record revenues for the first portion of the year.
According to the company, revenues were up 22 percent to £117.9 million for the six months to March-end, an increase from £96.4 million a year before. Conversely, pre-tax profits rested at £22.5 million, down from £28.1 million from 2015.
However, profits were impacted by costs relating to the acquisitions of Hometrack and Expert agent, alongside the merger of Property Software Group last year and uSwitch back in 2015.
While the aforementioned acquisition deals contributed to an additional £3.8 million in group revenue, they additionally produced £8.8 million in one-off costs, almost doubling from £4.9 million a year previously.
Chief Executive and founder Alex Chesterman commented on the results:
“We have enjoyed a strong first half to the financial year across both divisions and are delighted to report record revenues and adjusted EBITDA for the Period. Our audience grew by 5 percent with a record 314 million visits to our websites and apps and we achieved record levels of brand awareness for both Zoopla and uSwitch.”
Whilsts acquisition costs had impacted performance, Mr Chesterman remained optimistic about future growth prospects as a result. He added:
“We remain incredibly excited by the underlying growth across each of the business divisions, our recent acquisitions and the significant cross-sell opportunities to our highly engaged consumer audience and our unrivalled partner base.”
Mr Chesterman hit the headlines earlier in the year when he was noted as one of the businessmen that mounted a legal challenge against the UK’s EU referendum result back in June.
Zoopla is part of the FTSE-250 index, and has been listed on the London stock exchange as of June 2014. Daily Mail and General Trust (LON:DMGT) is the group’s largest shareholder.
Shares in the company are currently up 3.74 percent, as of 12.48PM (GMT).