Increased site traffic keeps up Rightmove's momentum for 2013

LONDON (Reuters) - British property website company Rightmove kept up positive momentum in the first four months of the year, reporting growth in site traffic and advertising revenue.

Rightmove, which runs Britain's number one property website, said it is confident it will meet its expectations for 2013 if the UK housing market does not worsen significantly.

Rightmove shares, which have risen over 30 percent since the start of the year, rose 3 percent to 1,962 pence at 0814 GMT, valuing the company at around 1.97 billion pounds ($3 billion).

"We see this as a strong start to the year," analysts at Citi said in a note.

"We are relatively comfortable on the competitive outlook and think Rightmove can continue to benefit from the structural shift of property advertising from print to online."

Overall activity increased 20 percent compared with the same period last year, the company said.

Average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) showed "healthy growth", the company said, as a result of price increases and new advertising products.

Rightmove set an increase in ARPA for 2013 in the region of 70 pounds on the 2012 average of 529 pounds per month.

Going into Nick McKittrick's second month as new chief executive, Rightmove maintained its cost guidance of between 35 million and 36 million pounds for the year.

(Reporting By Shadia Nasralla, editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/increased-traffic-keeps-rightmoves-momentum-2013-082053214.html

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