Ann: HALFYR: TME: Trade Me hits forecast and grow

• Release Date: 20/02/13 10:30
• Summary: HALFYR: TME: Trade Me hits forecast and grows revenue 18% year on year
• Price Sensitive: No
• Download Document  5.36KB

					

TME
20/02/2013 08:30
HALFYR

REL: 0830 HRS Trade Me Group Limited

HALFYR: TME: Trade Me hits forecast and grows revenue 18% year on year

Announcement: Trade Me
20 February 2013

Trade Me hits forecast and grows revenue by 18% year-on-year

Highlights

o Revenue up 18% YoY to $80.4m
o Net profit after tax up 3% YoY to $37.4m
o EBITDA  up 14% YoY to $59.2m
o Dividend of 7.5 cps (7% higher than forecast) to be paid on 26 March
o Achieved the final set of overall revenue and earnings targets set out in
IPO prospectus
o More than one-third of all visits to Trade Me are from a mobile device
o Strong prospects - good opportunities in our classifieds businesses, and a
large long-term opportunity in online retail

Online marketplace and classified advertising business Trade Me Group Ltd
("Trade Me") released its half-year financial results for the 6 months to 31
December 2012 this morning.

Trade Me chairman David Kirk said the results were pleasing, and marked the
end of another successful chapter in Trade Me's history. "We're continuing to
grow strongly with a double-digit lift in both revenue and EBITDA, and we're
proud to have delivered on the commitments we made to investors at IPO time.

"With Fairfax selling down its 51 per cent stake in Trade Me before Christmas
and our inclusion in the NZX 10 Index this week, we have well and truly
completed our transition to life as a public company. We're looking forward
to continuing to serve our shareholders as we keep working hard to grow the
business."

Revenue

Trade Me CEO Jon Macdonald said there had been varied levels of revenue
strength across Trade Me's business portfolio but "nothing out of the
ordinary".

"Our core General Items marketplace performed in line with our expectations,
with a definite shift in activity towards mobile. Throughout the year, we've
also seen the proportion of fixed price transactions continue to grow as more
buyers seek an instant ecommerce experience."

Mr Macdonald said the Classifieds businesses - Trade Me Motors, Trade Me
Property, and Trade Me Jobs - delivered a strong performance during the
half-year and this looked set to continue through 2013. "There are several
factors at play here, including the return of some market stability, and
encouraging uptake for our new premium promotional products."

In the Other segment, revenue was below forecast, and Mr Macdonald attributed
this to two main causes. "First, our Advertising business fell short of our
revenue expectations as the migration of spending toward online has been
tempered by offshore publishers gaining market share. Second, Treat Me came
in below our bullish forecast. We believe group-buying still has potential,
but remains a young and uncertain industry in New Zealand.

"Elsewhere in our Other segment, we recorded an excellent performance from
our online dating business FindSomeone, and our trio of travel businesses
performed in line with our expectations."

Priorities

Mr Macdonald said Trade Me had expanded its mobile offering throughout the
year, and that it would play an important part in Trade Me's future plans.
"Mobile now accounts for more than one-third of our overall visits, a
proportion that has doubled over the past year. Android activity has grown
particularly strongly and in January it delivered half the number of sessions
to Trade Me as Apple's iOS devices.

"We've expanded our mobile team, built a suite of mobile applications and
smartphone-optimised sites across Trade Me, and we released our first
application for smart TVs in December 2012."

New goods also remained high priority. "We've welcomed aboard well-known New
Zealand retailers over recent months, and will continue to build this supply
over the year," Mr Macdonald said. "We've also progressed with our
aspirations to attract international sellers, and achieved our objective of
having several Australian sellers up and running via ChannelAdvisor in time
for Christmas 2012."

Trade Me purchased holiday accommodation provider Holiday Homes in December
2012. "We've completed three small acquisitions over the past 12 months, and
these have all gone well. We'll likely augment our portfolio with judicious
investments over the coming years."

The Trade Me team had grown in line with forecast. "Trade Me's overall number
of staff has increased to 300 from 230 a year ago. We believe a key factor in
our commercial success is determined by the calibre of our staff, and we
continue to select smart, optimistic people who execute strongly."

The future

Looking ahead, Mr Macdonald said there was optimism about Trade Me's
prospects: "In the short term, we believe the New Zealand economy remains
subdued but settled, and is taking some strength from the Christchurch
rebuild and the Auckland property market.

"In the longer term, we're confident about the company and its strong
foundations. Ongoing growth in mobile, the introduction of additional
products across our classifieds businesses, the migration of advertising
yield online, and the long-term opportunity in ecommerce, all provide
sizeable opportunities for Trade Me.

"In order to grow and fulfil our potential, we'll keep working hard and
investing sensibly to ensure we meet the needs of our members and customers."

-ends-

More information:  Trade Me investor website: http://investors.trademe.co.nz/

Contact:   Paul Ford, Trade Me, +64 4 803 2611, [email protected]
End CA:00233143 For:TME    Type:HALFYR     Time:2013-02-20 08:30:20