Southeast Asian property classifieds group PropertyGuru’s losses widened in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, compared with a year ago, even as its revenue rose.
For the three months ended June 30, 2024 the NYSE-listed firm posted a net loss of S$16 million ($12.2 million), compared with a loss of S$6 million in the same period last year.
Total revenue increased 10% year over year to S$41 million. Of that, marketplaces revenues increased nearly 11% year-on-year to S$39 million, led by growth in Singapore. Improving market conditions in Malaysia and Vietnam also contributed to the revenue expansion.
In Q2 2024, PropertyGuru’s adjusted EBITDA grew to S$7 million, up 48% from S$5 million in the second quarter of 2023. Its adjusted EBITDA margin was 17%, which was higher than 13% in Q2 2023.
For the six-month period ended June 30, 2024, PropertyGuru’s adjusted EBITDA reached S$11.3 million, representing a 2.3x improvement year-on-year. However, its net loss widened to S$22.4 million, compared to S$16.7 million in the first half of 2023.
PropertyGuru had posted quarterly profits of S$300,000 and S$1.1 million in Q3 and Q4 2023, respectively. It slipped back to the red in the first quarter of 2024 with a net loss of S$6 million.
The company has cancelled its Q2 2024 earnings call, due to an intended acquisition by EQT Private Capital Asia.
Last month, Swedish investment firm EQT announced a proposed take-private transaction for the company, valuing the business at $1.1 billion. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2024 or Q1 2025. The deal will create an exit for PropertyGuru’s major shareholders, including US-based investment firms TPG and KKR, which own a combined 56% of the company’s ordinary shares.
PropertyGuru began trading in New York in 2022 through a de-SPAC transaction at a roughly $1.8 billion valuation.
The EQT’s privatisation plan for PropertyGuru was billed as a move that would offer a premium to its current private equity sponsors, but it might also have saved the Southeast Asian real estate classifieds firm from further declining in an unfavourable public market, according to an analysis by DealStreetAsia last month.
PropertyGuru’s shares debuted at $8.46 apiece. EQT offered to take the company private at $6.7 per share, while the stock closed September 3 trading at $6.58.
