ONTHEHOUSE LOOKS TO FUTURE GROWTH AFTER LOSS

ONTHEHOUSE Holdings (ASX:OTH) has posted a full year loss of $8.7 million, after booking $10.5 million in impairments.

The real estate website recorded a profit of $423,000 in the previous year, which was impacted by writedowns in software and intangible assets during December.

Revenue remained steady at $26 million, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up 12.2 per cent from the previous period at $6.5 million.

Onthehouse CEO Chris Meehan says the company has identified a number of opportunities to boost market share, following a strategic review in June.

"Over the past 12 months the company has increased its focus on improving service and product features in the console real estate software business and building the new Onthehouse.com.au website to be launched in the December quarter this year," Meehan says.

"At the same time, we have looked to right size the business and drive efficiencies to further reinvest in the future growth of both our operating divisions."

The real estate solutions (RES) division delivered a 1 per cent increase in revenue to $21.5 million, whereas the consumer online and data (COD) division fell 8 per cent to $4.5 million.

New advertising spend partially offset the decline, after several clients halted media spend. This is expected to be reviewed once the new website is launched.

"RES has a strong market share, is very profitable and delivers strong cash flow to the Onthehouse group," Meehan says.

"The intention is to reinvest some of that cash flow to redevelop the existing technology into a SaaS (software as a service) platform.

"This will build on our current market position and provide an integrated set of real estate marketing and backend software solutions to enable real estate agents to confidently grow their businesses."

He says the company will explore joint venture options to develop the COD business in the next six months, which would allow it to retain between 30 and 40 per cent ownership.