By Costas Pitas
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's ZPG, which runs property website Zoopla and is being bought by U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake for 2.2 billion pounds, posted a 33 percent rise in first-half profit as listings grew on its platforms.
Silver Lake said this month it was buying the real estate portal, which also operates site PrimeLocation and comparison service uSwitch, with the deal set to complete in the third quarter of 2018 subject to shareholder approval.
"We are excited about the prospect of working with Silver Lake and the opportunity this offers to our employees, consumers and partners as we move to the next stage of ZPG's development and growth," said founder and CEO Alex Chesterman.
Chesterman, who launched the Zoopla website in 2008, said he would remain with the business after Silver Lake's 4.90 pound per share cash buyout which will be discussed at a shareholder meeting due to be held on June 18.
Profit rose 33 percent to 22.4 million pounds in the six months to the end of March while revenue also rose by a third to 157 million pounds.
Listings increased by 6 percent to 982,000 whilst the number of estate agents on its sites rose by 7 percent to 15,264 branches, as the site continues to win back partners from rival OnTheMarket , which had taken some of Zoopla's business in the past.
Chesterman said since OnTheMarket earlier this year dropped its "one other portal rule", which meant that many estate agents listed on Rightmove and either Zoopla or OnTheMarket, the number of agents joining ZPG had risen significantly.
"We've been winning back agents over the last three months at twice the rate of the three months prior to that and four times the rate of the same three months last year," he said.