SINGAPORE, 11 MARCH 2014 – PropertyGuru, Singapore’s #1 real estate portal by most number of page views and property listings, is pleased to announce its 2013 performance results.
Reflects Steve Melhuish, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PropertyGuru: “2013 has seen continuous growth for the Group in Singapore, and Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. We have further strengthened our rankings to lead amidst stiff competition. As we press on with sustainable investment in our business fundamentals including award-winning products, world-class talent on board our executive leadership team and cutting-edge technology, PropertyGuru retains high-level delivery of superior consumer experience. IPO remains in the pipeline and we expect to break news within an 18-month time frame”.
EARNINGS
The Group increased revenue by more than 41% though it did not achieve its 50% growth target. This can be attributed to lower-than-expected take-up by developer clients and corporate advertisers out of Singapore. However all other countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia exceeded sales goals.
AGENT SUBSCRIPTION
The second half of 2013 saw 1,205 new real estate agent memberships across all countries netting a total of 28,265 paying agents year ending.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Visits to PropertyGuru’s websites across four countries grew by 19% to reach 125 million (Source: Google Analytics). Page views increased by 29% to a total of 1.1 billion impressions (Source: Google Analytics). Property listings increased by 69% to 805,060 end 2013.
LEADERSHIP POSITIONING IN THE REGION
PropertyGuru has expanded its leadership positions in Singapore and Thailand. Since Q4 2013, the company holds the #1 spot in Indonesia. PropertyGuru is ranked #2 in Malaysia whilst fast closing the gap with its closest competitor.
PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
44% of website traffic across four countries stemmed from mobile with Singapore leading the pack at 57% and continually rising at one percentage point a month. At the end of 2013, the Group recorded 1,357,946 downloaded mobile apps, resulting in a slew of three MOBEX awards sweep. Latest product enhancements include further improving consumer experience through additional content add-ons such as videos, micro-site for showcase of luxury developments and a floor plan database for real estate agents out of Singapore.
HUMAN RESOURCE
PropertyGuru has now completed its executive leader recruitment program. The Group’s divisions are headed by a Chief People & Culture Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are led by Country Managers.
SUSTAINABLE CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
“Social Give Back” sits high on PropertyGuru’s priorities. Over the last half year, PropertyGuru Indonesia donated food, clothing and school books to a Bogor orphanage. Malaysia saw to raising funds for the Taman Megah Handicapped & Disabled Children’s Home in Selangor via an on-ground awareness campaign.
COUNTRY VIEWS
SINGAPORE
PropertyGuru continued to retain clear market leadership. Listings increased by 39% to achieve an aggregate of 220,000. Whilst website visits decreased by 1% to 57.7 million (Source: Google Analytics), page views increased by 15% to 613 million (Source: Google Analytics). The slower growth can be attributed to lower transaction volumes and declining property prices. Regardless, PropertyGuru Singapore enjoys 5.4 times more page views than its closest competitor (Source: ComScore). Based on a calculation of visits multiplied by time spent on website, PropertyGuru Singapore boasted a stellar 80% market share amongst the three leading property portals (Source: ComScore). Revenues growth was driven primarily by the successful uptake of agent subscription packages.
MALAYSIA
PropertyGuru’s Malaysia subsidiary increased its listings volume by 60% to 260,000. Website visits increased by 70% to 18.6 million (Source: Google Analytics) and page views by 97% to 131.3 million (Source: Google Analytics). The high-deliverable metrics point to PropertyGuru Malaysia closing in on its closest competitor. Leveraging on its Singapore home-turf where PropertyGuru is the dominant #1 property portal, Malaysian developers will want to partner with the brand that can offer the largest quantum access to affluent Singaporean investors. PropertyGuru Malaysia is setting its sights on breaking even in 2014 at EBITDA level.
THAILAND
DDproperty.com, the Thailand subsidiary of the Group continues to sustain clear pole position. Listings volume increased by 161% to an aggregate of 105,000 end 2013. Website visitors increased by 32% to 28 million (Source: Google Analytics) and page views grew by 39% to 154 million (Source: Google Analytics). Excellent traction gains were made with developer clients and PropertyGuru Thailand can expect to see strong growth moving forward into 2014.
INDONESIA
Subsidiary Rumah.com overtook its closest competitor in 2013. Website visits grew by 38% to 20.8 million resulting in 164.7 million page views – an increase of 57% over 2012 (Source: Google Analytics). This statistical leap can be attributed to effective marketing initiatives and steep growth (92%) in property listings netting 218,000 by end 2013. Indonesia is an emerging market so culling developer clients and agent subscriptions are still in their nascent stages.
ONE-ON-ONE Q&A WITH STEVE MELHUISH, CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PROPERTYGURU GROUP
Q: What do you see as your greatest challenge at this point?
A: The greatest challenge is currently managing four countries in a fast-growing business as an SME. This is why we have focused on hiring leadership talent over the last twelve months, as you read in our last newsletter. In particular, it is very hard to find great talent with experience in the online sector in all the countries we are operating in, where we are facing strong competition from subsidiaries of large online firms, online division of large corporates and increasingly well-funded local start-ups.
Q: I am a bit confused about market positions. Everybody seems to claim they are the #1?
A: According to globally recognised research firm ComScore, we are the market leader in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. You can also check it out yourself. We trust the most objective source are Google Analytics or ComScore. It is essential you are using the same source for all websites you are comparing, i.e. don’t use Google Analytics for one website and ComScore for the other. But it requires some set-up work to do that. If you want to just do a quick check, similarweb.com or alexa.com are great tools.
Q: There have been accounting issues with some companies from Asia listed in the U.S. lately. What are you doing to give us comfort in this respect?
A: We have switched our auditor for the Group and our corporate secretary in Singapore from non-Big 4 to PwC from 2012 onwards. We have retained Ernst & Young as tax adviser for the Group since last year (was non-Big 4 previously). Ernst & Young for the tax side and PwC for the accounting side did pre-IPO Health Checks earlier this year, and, in the case of PwC, the audit team worked closely with the Health Check team on this. We believe our accounting practices are quite conservative. As an example, whereas we spread the subscription revenues from agents over the duration of the contract, we expense the commission to the sales person at the time we receive the monies from the client, i.e. we do not spread if over the contract life.
Q: You are not mentioning top-line or bottom-line numbers at all…
A: We will be more open as we are getting closer towards an IPO.
Q: Have you decided on a listing venue and timing?
A: Not yet. Most likely options are SGX (Singapore) or ASX (Australia). Timing will be in less than 18 months from now.
- ENDS -
About us
PropertyGuru is Asia’s #1 online property portal group. Visits to PropertyGuru’s websites across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia grew by 19% to reach 125 million (Source: Google Analytics). Page views increased by 29% to a total of 1.1 billion impressions (Source: Google Analytics). Property listings increased by 69% to 805,060 end 2013. 44% of website traffic across all four countries stemmed from mobile with Singapore leading the pack at 57% and continually rising at one percentage point a month. The Group has developed and launched 16 mobile applications in four countries and three languages. At the end of 2013, the Group recorded 1,357,946 downloaded mobile apps, resulting in a slew of three MOBEX awards sweep. The Group continues on a strategy of innovative product enhancements include further improving consumer experience through additional content add-ons such as videos, micro-site for showcase of luxury developments and a floor plan database for real estate agents out of Singapore. Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by two entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, the company received its first VC investment funding in 2008 and secured approximately $60m investment in 2012 from Deutsche Telekom, South East Asia’s largest digital investment to date. PropertyGuru was also the first to integrate its website with social media, first to launch Singapore’s only dedicated property newspaper – with over 100,000 copies circulated island-wide every month – and it has also developed a property events platform, with approximately 30 shows held annually across four countries, addressing 30,000 potential property buyers on the ground.
STEVE MELHUISH, CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Steve is an award-winning entrepreneur. In the last two decades, Steve built profitable companies throughout Asia and Europe. In 2006 along with his partner Jani Rautiainen, founded PropertyGuru. Under the auspice of this newly established brand, PropertyGuru provided a one-stop online shop for the listing and sale of residential and commercial properties to individual and institutional buyers and investors. Prior to Steve’s current role, he held executive positions in various venture capital firms including Skype, AOL, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Extreme Media, iPass and Ariadne Capital. Steve’s expertise in leading global teams resulted in a US$500 million turnover for a business unit for Cable & Wireless. In 2007, Steve was awarded the Spirit of Enterprise Award in recognition of his contributions to entrepreneurship in Singapore. Steve is a non-executive director for two other firms, an angel investor and member of the Business Angels Network South East Asia.
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