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Written by rosalind renshaw


As the clock ticks towards the end of June, when a decision will be made about the future of Propertyfinder by its parent organisations, it is understood that there has been positive reaction to plans for a management buy-out.

Propertyfinder is co-owned by the Rupert Murdoch organisations, News International and the REA Group, an Australian property portal group with worldwide interests.

It was REA that announced to the Australian stock exchange that it was reviewing its UK operations, and was considering closing Propertyfinder.

Propertyfinder appears to have been making an annual loss of around £5m. It has revenues, mainly from agents’ subscriptions, of £7m but its owners have been pumping investment into it to the tune of £12m.

Meanwhile, Simon Baker, a former chief executive of REA Group and now a consultant, has posted an article on his own site, Portal Watch.

In it, he says that, despite the ‘significant red ink’ on its accounts,  Propertyfinder has strong traffic, revenues, reputation and management team, and good relationships with its agents.

He points to the fact that for the last three years, Propertfinder has consistently rated second or third behind Rightmove in the most visited property portal charts.

It also has 5,500 or so agent subscribers, including Connells, Savills, Hamptons and John D Wood.

Baker concludes that the site is definitely worth saving, providing it can bring its costs right down, which would include slashing headcount, and re-position itself away from being a contender to Rightmove and more as a budget airline.

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