Rightmove appeared to be a beneficiary of yesterday’s successful launch by Zoopla on the stock market.
Shares in Zoopla floated at 220p each and went up to as much as 236p. But they finally settled at 230p at the end of the day, with a massive 35.8 million shares changing hands.
However, shares in Rightmove were boosted by 31p and ended the day at 2,202p.
Shares in LSL and Countrywide, which both netted almost £20m from the sale of their stakes in Zoopla, fell slightly.
In yesterday’s flotation, some 159.98m Zoopla shares were issued, equivalent to 38.3% of the group’s share capital.
Take-up by agents of shares discounted by 20% was one in five, meaning that 80% of agents and developers who advertise on Zoopla decided against investing.
That means they will not be able to purchase a second tranche of discounted shares next year, and have deprived themselves of making a fast profit on Monday when Zoopla’s shares start their official trading.
In an interesting interview (link below), Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman talks about his ambitions to topple Rightmove:
I must confess that I was tempted to buy some shares in the expectation of making a quick profit but decided against it – the potential gain was not enough to outweigh the contradiction of investing in a business which boasts of its amibition to continue taking more and more of my profits without providing a pro-rata increase in benefit to my business.
I wonder what the share value will be in March 2015….
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Agreed! It felt hypocritical to invest. I'm glad to see only 1 in 5 took up the offer, demonstrating the discontent with the brand, especially as a quick profit was a certainty! Money isn't everything!
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