OnTheMarket  (AIM: OTMP ) has reported record delivery of leads to advertisers since the partial relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions and extends its discount offer a further two months to its agent customers.

Portal Update

On the 15 April 2020, OnTheMarket announced a COVID-19 update in which the Company noted the short-term impact of on the ability of estate and lettings agents to run their businesses. Importantly, the subsequent government restrictions had an immediate impact on the ability of agents to run their business, with transactions largely suspended and a corresponding decrease in portal activity.

However, since the partial relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, OnTheMarket has seen new records for total leads delivered to advertisers and significantly improved portal activity:

  • Over 430,000 leads were delivered in the week commencing 8 June 2020
  • Over 440,000 leads were delivered in the week commencing 15 June 2020
  • Total site visits were c.6 million in each week:
  • An increase of over 280% on the weekly low point during lockdown
  • An increase of over 20% up on the first week in March 2020- prior to the full impact of the lockdown on the property market

Furthermore, the Company states the above has been achieved despite a significant reduction in marketing spend since the lockdown commenced on 23 March 2020.

Extension of Discount Period

Agents are the lifeblood of all property portals, providing not only most of their income but also their essential and most valuable content - the property listings. As a portal founded as a mutual by and for agents, alignment with agents' objectives remains at the centre of the Company’s value proposition.

As announced on the 19 March 2020, OnTheMarket took the highly commended decision to take a three month discount to its listing fees to assist its agent customers who were facing an uncertain future and obvious cashflow issues during the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. This discount was offered to all agent customers who are paying on full-tariff listing agreements. This initial discount period was due to expire on 25 July 2020.

Today, the Company has announced the two-month extension to its discount period, extending listing fee discounts to 25 September 2020. The discount will remain at 33% for the first month and reduce to 20% for the second month.

Once again, these discounts will be given to all OnTheMarket agent customers who are paying on full-tariff listing agreements.

Clive Beattie, Acting Chief Executive Officer, commented: "It remains the core strategy of OnTheMarket, as the majority agent-owned portal, to deliver value and to provide first-class support for our agent customers.

Whilst we have seen record levels of leads in recent weeks, which is a testament to the strong engagement OnTheMarket.com has with consumers who are currently active in the property market, we believe agents continue to face challenges and that offering this discount extension package will assist them as they continue to restart operations.

At the same time, we also need to begin increasing our own levels of service support and advertising on behalf of our customers as their markets reopen. The extended discounts allow us to support customers alongside a gradual increase in these activities whilst conserving our cash."

As a result of the ongoing uncertainty, there is no market guidance on the potential impact of COVID-19 on the Group in the current financial year to 31 January 2021.

While revenues will undoubtedly be impacted in the near-term, the Group continues to conserve cash through the careful management of costs as outlined in its COVID-19 Update on 15 April 2020.

As at 31 May 2020, the Group had net cash of £8.8m, and, excluding deferred creditor payments of £2.3m, no borrowings.