Half Year 2026 Rightmove PLC Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Rightmove PLC (RTMVF) delivered solid first-half results with 7% revenue growth and 6% underlying EPS growth, supported by strong agency ARPA growth and record partner retention.
- The company's strategic growth areas (SGAs) are on track for full-year targets, with commercial property revenue up 13% and rental services revenue surging 67%.
- Rightmove PLC (RTMVF) is making significant AI-driven product advancements, including Ask Rightmove, which has driven higher user engagement, and the online agent valuation (OAV) product, which has generated over 45,000 valuation requests and contributed to 50% growth in valuation leads.
- The company increased its capital return program, announcing over GBP400 million expected to be distributed to shareholders over the next 12 months, including a new GBP200 million revolving credit facility to support leverage and returns.
- Rightmove PLC (RTMVF) maintains a dominant market position with 75-90% share of consumer portal time spent, over 90% direct traffic, and less than 0.5% of traffic from LLMs, underscoring its competitive moat.
- The company's tech platform is fully cloud-enabled, with 35% more tech releases and 84% of code changes AI-enabled, positioning it well for future agentic property marketplace opportunities.
- Rightmove PLC (RTMVF) faces significant headwinds in the new homes market, with development volumes declining and revenue growth slowing to just 2% in H1, leading to a reduced full-year revenue guidance of 6-8%.
- New homes membership declined by 121 developments in H1, with new developments coming to market at the lowest level on record, and the company expects further declines of 6-10% in H2.
- The company incurred GBP2.3 million in exceptional costs related to a proposed legal claim, with full-year guidance of GBP4-7 million, adding uncertainty to future financials.
- Mortgage revenue decreased by GBP1.1 million year-on-year due to stamp duty changes and interest rate cuts, reflecting a challenging mortgage market environment.
- The overall property market remains subdued, with transaction levels expected to be slightly below last year and long-term averages, and mortgage rates elevated around 5%, impacting buyer affordability and confidence.
- Other business lines, including overseas property, are underperforming due to market-driven factors, with fewer buyers for second homes, and the company does not see a material near-term improvement.
All right. Five seconds to go. Let's conclude that everyone is in the room. So good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Rightmove's results for H1 '26. I'm joined today by Rory Hook, our CFO.
First, four key takeaways. I'm pleased with our first half results and the strategic progress we've made. Our state agency business delivered solid growth and strong retention, and the smaller strategic growth areas are on track for full year targets. New homes market development volumes have softened over the period, though with good product and ARPA uptake. We delivered an accelerating number of products across the entire business, many of them powered or complemented with AI, building on our reach and our data.
The tech platform is in a strong position. We continue to shape a leading agentic-powered property marketplace for the long term. Our confidence is reflected in the increasing increased capital return that you have seen news about this morning, over GBP400 million expected over the next 12 months.
So let's
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