Reported by Nigel Lewis - The Negotiator
It has been reported that OnTheMarket (OTM) has been bought for £100m by £33 billion global property data group CoStar.
Sky News says the portal, which is due to publish its results today, will also reveal that the portal’s board has approved the sale, persuaded by a bid ‘substantially’ over its current 70p share price. The sale comes after OTM has gone quiet in recent months following July’s news that, although its financials were solid, fewer agents were listing properties on the portal as a chillier economic climate has swept in.
Its revenue jumped 14% to £34.45 million and adjusted operating profit rose by 59% to £4.3 million.
These rises were driven in part by a jump in revenue or ARPA from each of its agent customers of 12% rising from £188 to £210.
At the time the portal said it was struggling to hang on to some of its agent customers with a 2% drop in total agents to 13,086 and a 10% drop in monthly leads per advertiser, although its investment in tech recently have helped keep the overall numbers looking positive and in ‘in line with board expectation’.
The sale to CoStar will worry the senior teams at Zoopla and Rightmove – Sky News reports insider rumours that the huge US-based data behemoth want to use OTM to take on the two incumbent and market-leading portals.
CoStar, which has offices in 15 countries, bought Homes.com – a US online property platform – in 2021 and it is reported that the OTM purchase is expected to be presented as a continuation of its strategy.
But the sale of OTM ends the somewhat tattered dream that the portal could be an ‘agent-owned’ alternative to Zoopla and Rightmove – although agents who still hold OTM stock are likely to see a lucrative payday assuming the sale is voted through by shareholders.
