Rightmove’s revenue slides 29% in 2020 despite record number of visitors.

Rightmove plc (LON: RMV) said on Friday that its full-year pre-tax profit posted a decline on a year over year basis due to the discounts it offered to its clients amidst the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. But the number of visitors, it added, jumped to a record high.

Rightmove shares tanked more than 3% on market open on Friday to trade at a per-share price of 581 pence. In the last week of March 2020, the stock had tumbled to a low of 400 pence per share.

Rightmove reports £134.8 million of pre-tax profit in 2020

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Rightmove said that its pre-tax profit in 2020 came in at £134.8 million. In the previous year, it had recorded a higher £213.7 million of profit before tax. The UK’s largest online real estate portal valued its revenue in the recently concluded year at £205.7 million, that represents a 29% annualised decline.

In December, the London-based firm forecast house price inflation to slight decline to 4% in 2021.

Average revenue per advertiser, as per Rightmove, saw a 28% decline to £778 a month. In December, however, the figure jumped to £1,103 or 2% higher than the same period last year. At 2.1 billion visits in 2020, traffic to its site climbed by 31%.

CEO Peter Brooks-Johnson commented on the financial update on Friday and said:

“Whilst there is clearly still significant macro uncertainty, with record traffic levels, a strong product suite and our ongoing commitment to delivering more innovation, the board is confident in the resilience of our business and the outlook for 2021 and beyond.”

Rightmove declares 4.5 pence per share of final dividend

Rightmove’s board declared 4.5 pence per share of final dividend on Friday. Last year, the property website had cancelled its dividend of 4.4 pence per share in a bid to shore up finances amidst the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has so far infected more than 4.1 million people in the United Kingdom and caused over 122 thousand deaths.

In separate news from the UK, pet supplies retailer, Pets at Home raised its guidance for full-year underlying pre-tax profit on Friday, on the back of robust performance in the past eight weeks.

Rightmove plc remained almost flat on average in the stock market last year with an annual gain of roughly 2%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £5.16 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 38.24.