REA Group first half dragged by soft housing
REA Group (REA) +3.1%
REA Closed higher today despite what was on most accounts a difficult first half. Trading on a huge 40x earnings, REA saw profit fall 13% to $152.9m in the first half of the year, around 6% below consensus data, on a decline in listings weighing on earnings. The company noted residential listing were down 14% in Australia, while the company managed to great earnings in the smaller geographies of Asia and North America. REA pointed to growth in their premium products in painting a rosy picture for the second half, with the market appearing to bank on a swift property market recovery and volumes to return with the share price trading higher by day’s end despite the weak result.
REA Group (REA) Chart
