Rightmove on track to trump year forecasts

21st Aug 2009 07:07

Property website Rightmove remains confident of beating expectations for the full-year after notching up its second highest monthly operating profit ever in July.The proud boast came as the firm reported a 6% drop in operating profit for the six months ended 30 June to £18.90m and 8% decline in pre-tax profit to £18.19m. Revenue slipped 1% to £33.6m.Rightmove blamed weaker revenue on declines in the number of estate agents and the number of developments being marketed.But things appear to be picking up. Website traffic was 3% higher versus the first half of 2008 at 3.2bn page impressions and has "remained strong" in May, June and July.In fact, July recorded the highest monthly revenue for the year-to-date and the second highest ever monthly operating profit as operating costs were slashed by 19% to £13.7m."The board is confident of exceeding market expectations for 2009, while not quite matching 2008 operating profit, and achieving further growth in 2010," said group managing director Ed Williams.The interim dividend stays at 3p a share.