Scout24 preliminary results 2017: Record revenue and profit for the financial year 2017

Scout24 preliminary results 2017: Record revenue and profit for the financial year 2017

• Performance fully in line with expectations
• Robust topline growth with revenues up 8.5% to EUR 479.8 million
• Surge in profitability with ordinary operating EBITDA up to EUR 252.8 million yielding a margin of 52.7% underlining high scalability of the business model

Preliminary Group revenues of EUR 479.8 million (2016: EUR 442.1 million) for the full year 2017 are up 8.5% year-over-year. The key drivers of the strong results were a solid development in ImmobilienScout24 (IS24) on the back of continued positive momentum in core agent revenues, further growth in AutoScout24 (AS24) through a strong ARPU (average revenue per core dealer per month) expansion and a continued monetisation along the value chains of real estate and automotive driven by the group-wide unit Scout24 Consumer Services.

"We are very happy with how the business has developed in financial year 2017. On the real estate side of the business we are back on our growth track, with double digit sales growth in the key account segment in more than half of our top 20 cities. After stabilising in mid-2017, core agent numbers have increased steadily since then driven by low churn and high win-back and new acquisition rates. The performance of AutoScout24, without a doubt, again underlined its dynamic growth potential. On the Consumer Services side, we have driven the monetisation forward, confirming the growth opportunity of the Scout24 market network," said Greg Ellis, CEO of Scout24 AG.

Scout24 expects to achieve a 12.6% higher ordinary operating EBITDA of EUR 252.8 million for the full year 2017 (2016: EUR 224.5 million). This represents a 1.9 percentage points increase in the ordinary operating EBITDA margin to 52.7%, and therefore above guidance given in August 2017. Cash contribution (ordinary operating EBITDA reduced by investments) grew by 12.2% or EUR 25.0 million to EUR 230.0 million, supporting the Group's financial flexibility. On the back of further debt reduction in the course of 2017, the leverage ratio of net debt to ordinary operating EBITDA is expected to come in at 2.22:1 (2016: 2.82:1). Scout24 is well on the way to its newly defined mid-term target range for the leverage ratio between 1.5:1 to 1.0:1.

"Financially, Scout24 has once again proven its continued sustainable and profitable growth potential. We have consistently pushed ahead with the leveraging of synergies and are in an excellent position for further growth. We have already seen the success of this in the disproportionate growth in our ordinary operating EBITDA which also underlines impressively the operating leverage of our business," said Christian Gisy, CFO of Scout24 AG.

Preliminary Group EBITDA is expected to come in at EUR 232.8 million (2016: EUR 206.8 million), affected by non-operating items of EUR 20.0 million, slightly higher than expected, relating mainly to the previously not expected costs in the context of the Group's M&A activities as well as costs attributable to reorganisation measures. Capital expenditure is expected to come it at EUR 22.8 million (2016: EUR 19.5 million), slightly exceeding the guidance driven by increased product development for both IS24 and AS24 platforms and thus higher capitalization of internally generated assets. We expect these investments to drive further growth in 2018 and beyond.

Net profit is expected at EUR 110,9 million (2016: EUR 66.9 million). Preliminary earnings per share amount to EUR 1.03 (2016: EUR 0.62).

Fourth quarter

For the fourth quarter 2017, Scout24 achieved preliminary Group revenues of EUR 126.3 million, an increase of 9.1% compared to the same period last year (EUR 115.8 million) and preliminary ordinary operating EBITDA of EUR 67.3 million, up 18.1% compared to EUR 57.0 million achieved in the fourth quarter 2016. Ordinary operating EBITDA margin came in at 53.3% compared to 49.2% in the fourth quarter 2016. Though being down in the first half of the year from 17,411 to 17,046, the number of core agents at IS24 saw a turn-around in the second half of the year and ended the quarter with a slight year-on-year increase to 17,507 (Q3/2017: 17,230) resulting from low churn levels and high win-back and acquisition rates. The total number of core dealers in Germany, Benelux and Italy of AS24 increased to 45,101 compared to 43,168 by end of the fourth quarter 2016 as a result of further market penetration, especially in Germany.

Based on the preliminary results of the financial year 2017 Scout24 remains confident to achieve the guidance communicated during the Capital Markets Day held in Berlin in November 2017. The management targets a high-single to low double digit percentage growth rate in Group Revenues for the financial year 2018 and a low- to mid-teens percentage growth rate for 2019. Ordinary operating EBITDA margin is expected to increase by a low-single digit percentage point each year.

All figures reported herein are preliminary and unaudited. Full financial disclosure for financial year 2017, together with detailed management guidance for the financial year 2018, will be published on 28 March 2018.

Next events and reportings

The Annual Report for the full financial year 2017 will be published on Wednesday, 28 March 2018 together with a conference call and webcast for financial analysts and investors.

Discover. Connect. Fulfil. Scout24 launches its Annual Report 2017 with digital storytelling
A total of eight topics from the annual report Discover. Connect. Fulfil. will be translated into digital stories and published in series within the next few weeks. The focus is on the most important innovation topics as well as a look behind the scenes at ImmobilienScout24 and AutoScout24. The episodes are available as of today on report.scout24.com. From next week on until the beginning of April a new episode goes online every Wednesday.

About Scout24

With our leading digital marketplaces ImmobilienScout24 and AutoScout24 in Germany and across Europe we are inspiring people to make their best decisions on finding a home and a car. More than 1,000 employees are working on the success of our products and services, putting the consumers' needs first in order to create a connected network for living and mobility. Scout24 is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A12DM80, G24). For further information, please visit www.scout24.com, our Corporate Blog and Tech Blog, or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Investor Relations

Britta Schmidt
Vice President Investor Relations & Controlling
Fon: +49 89 44456 3278
Email: [email protected]
 

Media Relations

Jan Flaskamp
Vice President Communications & Marketing
Fon: +49 30 24301 0721
Email: [email protected]

Disclaimer:

All information contained in this document has been carefully prepared. However, no reliance may be placed for any purposes whatsoever on the information contained in this document or on its completeness. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees or any other person as to the accuracy or completeness of the information or opinions contained in this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees nor any other person for any loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of such information or opinions or otherwise arising in connection therewith.

The information contained in this release is subject to amendment, revision and updating. Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this document are forward-looking, which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, senior management's current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. Statements contained in this document regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any information contained in this press release (including forward-looking statements), whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document.

Scout24 also uses alternative performance measures, not defined by IFRS, to describe the Scout24 Group's results of operations. These should not be viewed in isolation but treated as supplementary information. The special items used to calculate some alternative performance measures arise from the integration of acquired businesses, restructuring measures, impairments, gains or losses resulting from divestitures and sales of shareholdings, and other material expenses and income that generally do not arise in conjunction with Scout24's ordinary business activities. Alternative performance measures used by Scout24 are defined in the "Glossary" section of Scout24's Annual Report 2016 which is available at www.scout24.com/financial-reports.

Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this statement may not add up precisely to the totals indicated, and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures for the same reason.