01 Dec 2016
Leading U.K. real estate classified company Zoopla Property Group (ZPG) reported strong results for FY2016 to end-September today, and said it was confident about the current financial year, despite the headwinds hitting the property market.
ZPG revenue soared 84 percent to £198 million in FY2016 from £108 million in FY2015. Profit climbed 44 percent in FY2016 to £37 million from £25 million in FY2015.
Despite a general downturn in housing transactions in the U.K., Zoopla managed to grow its revenue – thanks mainly to its broad, diversified portfolio of companies, including recently-acquired price comparison site uSwitch.
Zoopla CEO Alex Chesterman reminded of the importance of this diversification, and said: “I think we are very well insulated from any events in one particular sector. Our business, which is not just diversified across sales and rentals, but is also diversified across marketing and software, and a variety of other services, remains relatively unaffected.”
Chesterman also commented that ZPG, which recently acquired estate agency website design and hosting business Technicweb.com, continues to win back agents from rival OnTheMarket.
ZPG also announced a strategic partnership (involving the investment of an undisclosed amount) with Neos, ” … the U.K.’s first connected home insurance provider”. Neos describes itself as, ” … the home insurer that uses smart technology to protect the people and things you care about”.
“As well as alerting the home owner of a break-in, leak or fire, the connected system triggers the 24/7 dedicated home-emergency team to get in contact and if needed, send an approved person to resolve the problem and minimize the damage to the home.
“To get everything back to normal, it’s all backed up by a premium home insurance policy, underwritten by Hiscox, a leading U.K. provider.
“Neos offers its connected-home protection service for a similar price to a traditional home insurance policy. Preventative security and rapid response to incidents means less risk of a claim – and a smaller claim if something bad does happen,” the company says on its site.
Ben Donovan
Ben is a writer/analyst in the UK and Ireland. Based in Manchester, UK, he has extensive knowledge in the UK real estate industry having built a 7 year career in a variety of roles in the field.
