Record traffic numbers for Zoopla properties

It was a record-breaking start to the year for Zoopla, with the company experiencing some hefty traffic to its digital properties in the four months to 31 January.

In a market update on Thursday, ahead of its AGM, the FTSE 250 digital media and lead generation firm said it had a solid start to the financial year, attracting more than 47m average monthly visits to its website and mobile apps during the period, and a record audience of more than 58m visits in January.

In its Property Services division, the number of partners continued to grow with the group adding 261 net new partners, taking the total number to 16,672 at the end of the period.

January also marked the ninth consecutive month of growth in the number of UK agency partners to 12,841 at the end of the period.

Zoopla's Comparison Services division had enjoyed strong switching volumes across each of the Energy, Communications and Financial Services verticals, with January seeing record levels of energy switches following the announcement by some suppliers of price reductions.

The group continued its strategy of educating consumers about the value of price comparison, with the launch of two new uSwitch national television campaigns focused on energy and broadband switching.

During the period, Zoopla said it also made further progress of integrating its divisions and developing its products, with management saying it looked forward to the rollout of a number of new products during 2016.

"I am pleased with the group's solid start to the financial year. In Property Services we have now seen nine consecutive months of partner growth and experienced record levels of traffic in January," said founder and CEO Alex Chesterman.

"Comparison Services has performed particularly well as we continue to help consumers save money off their household bills. Our recently announced investments and strategic partnerships with some of the most-promising players in the PropTech space reaffirm our commitment to leading innovation and will serve to further strengthen our proposition," he added.

Since the end of the period, Zoopla said it had performed well with the number of partners in the Property Services division continuing to grow, and energy switching experiencing strong activity for Comparison Services as more suppliers confirmed price cuts.

Zoopla's management remained comfortable with the market expectations for 2016, it said, with half year results due to be released on 25 May.