News Corp-owned real estate firm REA posts annual earnings lift (updated)

PropertyGuru

09/08/2024 24:29

(Updates with further details and background throughout)
       Aug 9 (Reuters) - REA Group  REA.AX , majority-owned by
News Corp  NWSA.O , reported a rise in annual earnings and hiked
its dividend on Friday, reflecting price increases and higher
national listings in Australia. 
    The company, which operates residential and commercial
property websites, said net profit after tax from core
operations rose 24% to A$460.5 million ($303.38 million), from
A$372.2 million reported a year ago.
    It declared a final dividend of A$1.02 per share, up from 83
Australian cents apiece a year ago. 
   Revenue from REA Group's India operations rose 31%, to A$103
million. Its real estate search portal, Housing.com, benefited
from strong customer events, including improved monetisation in
Tier 2 Indian cities.
        Its revenue from Move, which operates the property
portal realtor.com in North America, declined 10%, impacted by
poor macroeconomic conditions in the United States. REA Group
owns a 20% stake in Move. 
  
        The company also has a 17.2% stake in PropertyGuru Group
 PGRU.N , which operates property sites in Singapore, Vietnam,
Malaysia and Thailand. PropertyGuru's core equity-accounted
contribution was a A$1 million loss in fiscal 2024. 
        REA's total losses from its equity investments in other
firms increased to A$26 million for the year, from A$16 million
a year ago.
  
        
  
($1 = 1.5179 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja
Desai)
 ((Rishav.Chatterjee@thomsonreuters.com;))