Property website Rightmove is set for a spring flotation that could value it at double previous expectations, a report said today.
The site, which offers house and flat hunters the chance to browse estate agents’ stock online, is estimated to be worth more than £400m – double the £200m estimated as recently as December, the Financial Times said.
The new valuation, which came from analysts at ABN Amro, show the investors’ appetite for dotcom businesses.
Even this figure could be conservative, the newspaper said.
Currently its largest investor is Countrywide, which runs estate agency chains including Mann and Bairstow Eves. It owns a 30% stake in the business.
The site was launched in February 2000 and had almost 60% of all UK estate agents advertising on it by last August.
At that point it was receiving between seven and 10m visits a month and generating around 180m pages, placing it in the top 20 of all UK internet sites in terms of page impressions.
The sector’s growth has attracted interest from newspaper publishers with the Daily Mail & General Trust last month buying rival website Primelocation.com for £48m.
The FT said it was understood that Rightmove considered selling to a publisher before deciding on a float.
An announcement is expected in the next two months from advisers UBS and Panmure Gordon, it added.
Following the appointment of Scott Forbes as chairman last June, Rightmove said it was seeking a possible stock market listing.
A few weeks later a note from Oriel Securities valued it at more than £200m, particularly as the website stood to benefit from services linked to the introduction of Home Information Packs in 2007.
At the time Oriel said: “As an online success, Rightmove is the real thing – one of the few successes in the wake of the dotcom boom. Rightmove is highly cash generative and fast growing.”
The company declined to comment on today’s report.
References: EGi News 26/01/06
