OnTheMarket losses narrow; new instructions back to early March levels

Property portal operator OnTheMarket said on Thursday that full-year losses narrowed, with new instructions now back to early March levels.

In the year to 31 January, losses after tax narrowed to £11.5m from £14.5m the year before, with an adjusted EBITDA loss of £7.1m compared to an £11.7m loss in 2019. Revenue increased 32% to £18.8m, while traffic was up 49% to 237 million.

OTM said trading in February and the first half of March was in line with the group's expectations. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions had an immediate impact on the ability of its customers to run their business, with transactions largely suspended.

Since the partial relaxation of restrictions on 11 May, the company has seen "strong" increases in weekly new instructions, traffic and leads compared to previously subdued levels, despite a substantial reduction in advertising spend.

In the first week of June, visits to the website were up 260% compared with the trough experienced during lockdown and around 15% higher versus the first week in March, before the pandemic hit the housing market.

OTM also said that new instructions have recovered to early March levels, while stock levels are up as the backlog of transactions takes time to complete.

The company said financial guidance remains suspended but in the short-term, it expects revenues to fall as it gives discounts to its customers.

"Furthermore, the pandemic has impacted our customer recruitment and slowed the ongoing conversion of customers onto paying contracts," it said.

"However, the recent uplift in activity, which reflects increased brand awareness, is encouraging and we remain confident that we have the right strategy to support our longer-term vision to become the portal of choice for agent customers and property-seekers alike."

At 0940 BST, the shares were up 8.6% at 57p.