Zoopla Property Group has confirmed its conditional agreement to buy The Property Software Group, which it calls the UK’s market-leading provider of software solutions to property professionals used in over 8,000 agency branches.
PSG provides daily workflow tools to over 40,000 individual estate and letting agents across the UK through its cloud-based and desktop software, and provides systems for day-to-day management of inventory, marketing and communications as well as diary management, chain progression, business reporting tools and financial processes.
PSG’s MyPropertyFile and MoveIT provide agents with digital platforms for engaging with clients and generating additional revenue streams from property-related services.
Zoopla says the acquisition is a part of its “continued mission to be the most effective partner for UK property professionals”. Mark Goddard, chief executive of PSG, will become managing director of ZPG’s property services division, reporting to ZPG founder Alex Chesterman.
Chesterman describes the acquisition as a “game-changer” while Goddard says the acquisition is the conclusion of “a long-standing relationship with the team at ZPG.”
PSG will continue to operate as a separate brand but its 230 employees will join the Zoopla group.
The announcement came after a leading market analysis service raised concerns at the extent to which Zoopla’s “dramatic top line” revenue improvement in 2015 was reliant on its acquisition last year of comparison website uSwitch to provide growth.
The Motley Fool - a respected advice column written by a range of different City analysts - says that although’s Zoopla revenue grew a dramatic 34 per cent last year, without the uSwitch purchase its core business actually fell slightly from £80.2m to £79.9m.
“This is the last thing investors want to see in a growth share valued at a pricey 25 times forward earnings” says Motley Fool.
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From my experience The Motley Fool is hardly a 'respected advice column written by a range of different City analysts', it's quite often ill-informed opinion by freelance hacks. One day you'll get an article saying not to do something and the next an article saying the opposite. They are also very careful not to provide investment advice - as the disparate groups of contributors are not regulated to do so.
An alternative reading of the situation is that Zoopla made a terrific add-on purchase to diversify away from its property portal but to an ancillary investment where it should be able to create very good synergies - just like this mornings new about it buying Property Software Group.
See I've just written an article just as good as the Motley Fool's efforts and come up with a completely different outcome.
This may sound a silly question but what will agents that list with OTM and RM and currently use PSG do now? Swallow it or have to change software provider?
Interesting question. Maybe someone from Zoopla or PSG could tell us more?
Until then we can wildly speculate to our heart's content!
Our relationship and property feeds with all other property portals will remain in place, the acquisition will have no impact on who an agent chooses to market their property with :-)
What to you get if you add one bunch of gangster's to another bunch of gangster's, hmmm I guess we will find out. Perhaps onthemarket agents should create their own CRM and say two fingers to this greed machine.
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