PropertyGuru cuts Q1 losses to S$10.2 million

NEW York Stock Exchange-listed PropertyGuru reported net losses of S$10.2 million for its first quarter ended Mar 31, from S$120.3 million in the corresponding period the year before.

Revenue for Q1 rose 15.6 per cent year on year to S$32.6 million, from S$28.2 million previously.

Its marketplaces continued to be the main source of the company’s revenue, bringing in S$31.2 million in Q1, a 14.7 per cent increase from S$27.2 million in Q1 2022.

Revenue from the Singapore marketplace grew 25.6 per cent year on year to S$18.8 million. This was just ahead of its Malaysia marketplace, which increased 25.5 per cent year on year to S$6.8 million.

PropertyGuru added that in Singapore, its average revenue per agent was up 19 per cent from the prior year’s quarter, while the number of overall agents in Singapore was up by over 200 from the end of 2022 to 15,765.

The company’s Q1 2023 revenue in Vietnam, however, shrank 34.2 per cent to S$3.3 million, from S$5.1 million for the same period the year before. PropertyGuru said its number of listings in Vietnam was down nearly a third, decreasing 32 per cent over the same period to 1.1 million – the result of government action to tighten credit.

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Meanwhile, PropertyGuru’s fintech and other data services business raked in S$1.4 million in Q1 – a 40.1 per cent jump from S$1 million for the first three months of 2022.

Its loss per share for the period was S$0.06, compared with S$0.90 for Q1 2022, on the back of a 73.6 per cent year-on-year drop in expenses to S$42.2 million, from S$159.9 million previously. A significant portion of its Q1 2022 expenses, however, were either share-listing expenses or legal and professional fees incurred for its initial public offering.

The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) plunged 60.3 per cent to S$220,000 for Q1 2023, compared with S$554,000 for Q1 2022.

It had cash and cash equivalents of S$294 million on hand at the end of the quarter.

PropertyGuru further reiterated its previous forecast for FY2023 of revenue between S$160 million and S$170 million and an adjusted Ebitda of between S$11 million and S$15 million.

While the group remains bullish on its growth trajectory over the long term, it cautioned that short-term performance could be affected by stamp-duty increases in Singapore, residual political uncertainty in Malaysia, and “a lack of clarity in global fiscal policy stemming from rising interest rates”.

“Vietnam remains the primary challenge in the near term, as governmental monetary policy has significantly impacted real estate transaction activity. We believe that these pressures will begin to abate in the latter part of 2023 and into 2024,” said Hari V Krishnan, chief executive and managing director of PropertyGuru.

“We are encouraged by the types of strategic mergers and acquisitions opportunities we are seeing in the marketplace as we continue to explore and evaluate adjacent opportunities to deploy available capital,” noted chief financial officer Joe Dische.