ZPG Group Mid-Year Report
1st July 2019
In July 2018, Silver Lake completed the acquisition of ZPG in a Board recommended, take private transaction valuing the entire issued ordinary share capital at approximately £2.2 billion on a fully diluted basis.
ZPG owns and operates some of the UK’s most trusted digital brands that help empower smarter property and household decisions, including Zoopla, uSwitch, Money, PrimeLocation and SmartNewHomes. It is also one of the leading residential property software and data providers with a range of products including Hometrack, Alto, Calcasa, and many others.
Following the recent transition to a privately-owned company, ZPG has renewed its strategic focus on providing significant value to customers and consumers, underpinned by the ability to take a longer-term view as regards to investment decisions which may not otherwise be possible in a public market context.
ZPG has a talented and energised team in place to steer through this new era, as well as the support of Silver Lake and Red Ventures through their expertise in product, technology and marketing.
Key updates for the two divisions of ZPG (Property and Comparison) over the first six months of the fiscal year ending September 2019 are outlined below.
Property
The last six months saw a plethora of innovative and exciting developments at the Property arm of ZPG, as Zoopla continues to focus on being the UK’s leading property destination.
Marketing
This year, Zoopla increased advertising spend by 23% in Q2 FY19 when comparing the same period in 2018. This was driven in part by the launch of the latest ‘Crabs’ advertising campaign on Boxing Day which was seen by 90% of ABC1 adults, equivalent to over 26 million people in total. This highly prominent campaign helped drive consumer traffic to the websites, with visits peaking at a monthly high of more than 58 million.
In December, Gary Bramall joined as new Chief Marketing Officer, bringing extensive experience in marketing and branding and having held senior roles at mytaxi (previously Hailo), Microsoft, Skype, Apple and Orange. His appointment marks Zoopla’s commitment to differentiating itself from competitors whilst strengthening its marketing strategy.
Insights
Agents and consumers rely on Zoopla to offer invaluable insights into the property market. In January, Zoopla’s first monthly UK Cities House Price Index was launched, offering insight into the latest house price performance across the country, and indications are that it is being swiftly accepted as highly authoritative by industry professionals.
To further cement its dedication as a market leader in research and insights, in February Zoopla welcomed Richard Donnell as new Research and Insight Director. Richard joined from Hometrack and brings 25 years of property industry experience in data and analytics.
Product Innovation
Product innovation was accelerated with four new senior hires in an expanding product team. Earlier this year, Holly Westall and Paul Hammond joined respectively as Head of Product and Head of Engineering for Portal, while Carl Olivier and Peter Sellwood joined as Head of Product and Head of Engineering for Software and Productivity.
Zoopla has also continued to invest in new tools and products, for example the new Property Valuation Report powered by Hometrack data delivers hyper-local insights to agents, allowing them to demonstrate their local expertise with information previously only available to banks, surveyors and industry professionals.
In addition, Zoopla launched a revamped AgentFinder tool which helps prospective vendors and home hunters find the best Zoopla agent for them, and has also made significant improvements to the consumer search experience by removing third party advertisements from listings detail pages, and improving website and mobile app layouts to enable fast and easy access to property listings.
New Clients
More than 2,000 agent branches have joined since the start of July 2018. Significantly, Zoopla recently welcomed back Carter Jonas, Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, Strutt & Parker, Humberts, and a number of other agents. More than one million properties are listed on the websites, and in London Zoopla lists more rental properties than any other portal, with over 49,000 homes available to rent. Reports have also confirmed that Zoopla delivered a 36% increase in valuation leads to agents when comparing March 2018 to February 2019 with the preceding 12 months.
Social Impact
In March, Zoopla led the portal pack by announcing the removal of ‘No DSS’ adverts from its listings. Others joined in the campaign to treat consumers fairly; Homelessness Minister, Heather Wheeler MP vocalised her support on Twitter for Zoopla’s stance along with Polly Neate at Shelter and Rhys Moore at National Housing Federation.
Comparison
The Comparison arm of ZPG has remained focussed on growing and innovating its platforms to enable consumers to make better-informed decisions when managing their home and their finances.
Energy
uSwitch continues to lead the home services price comparison market, saving consumers approximately £139 million on their energy bills over the last six months and helping them navigate the introduction of the energy price cap and the ensuing flurry of supplier price rises. A fully integrated marketing push that included new Coach TV adverts seen by over 42 million adults, effective paid search and hard hitting PR, ensured our biggest ever energy switching month in March.
Communications
uSwitch also used its expert voice in the communications switching market to push for changes in regulation that will help prevent the significant overpayment experienced by consumers after their broadband, home phone, mobile or TV contract has expired - some £1 billion a year according to uSwitch’s campaign. From February 2020 suppliers will be forced to notify their customers before the end of their contract, with details on how they can make sure they remain on a good deal whether through their existing supplier or by switching to a new one.
Financial Services
Credit card and bank account switching has remained strong on Money.co.uk while the business seeks to restructure its financial services operations to maximise on synergies with uSwitch.com. Meanwhile a new team of personal finance experts, led by former Hometrack Director Piero Bassu, is building a new mortgage proposition. Bankrate, already a well-known brand in the US, has been launched by ZPG in the UK with a simple mission - to take the stress out of the homebuying process.
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For further information, please contact PR Team on pr@zoopla.co.uk or +44 (0)20 3873 8770.
About Zoopla
Hello. We're Zoopla. A property website and app.
We know you're not just looking for a place to live. You're looking for a home.
Yeah, we've got over a million properties for you to browse.
Tools that let you filter them in all kinds of clever ways.
And reliable house price estimates, so you can be sure you aren't paying over the odds.
But we know you're looking for more than that.
Because that first flat won't just be a 'great investment opportunity'.
It'll be the feeling of starting out on your own.
That extra bedroom won't just mean another £20K on the re-sale price, it'll mean having your sister over to stay.
And that bungalow won't just be a way to release some equity, it will be a chance to spend more time with the grandkids.
We know that searching for a home is about more than just checking its price, location and features (important as all those things are).
What really matters is how it makes you feel.
We know what a home is really worth.
So let us help you find yours.
Zoopla is part of Zoopla Limited which was founded in 2007.
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