Zoopla safe as houses as it reaches dizzying heights

Amid market volatility, investors have found online property group Zoopla to be something of a safe house this year.

Shares in the FTSE-250 group, which owns price comparison site uSwitch, hit all-time highs today, surging 13.82p, or 4.5%, to 320.92p.

It revealed annual profits would be towards the top end of analyst expectations of between £56 million and £71 million, only halfway through its financial year.

First-half revenues jumped 130% to £96.4 million and pre-tax profits rose 53% to £28.1 million, with uSwitch seen as the main reason for the growth.

The stock has gained 34% this year, defying concerns that rival property start-up OnTheMarket, which launched early last year, would see customers shop for new homes elsewhere online.

Last month’s £75 million purchase of Property Software, a day-to-day management tool for estate agents, was hailed by analysts as a savvy move to win back agents lost to OnTheMarket.

Shares in Zoopla’s closest rival Rightmove rose 25.7p to 4182.7p.

London’s investors took their leads from Wall Street, which put on solid gains yesterday, and the FTSE 100 advanced 38.41 points to 6257.67.

Profit-taking hit Ministry of Defence supplier Babcock, which fell 21.5p to 992.5p even after it boosted annual revenues by 4% to £4.16 billion, pre-tax profits by 5% to £330.1 million, and the dividend by 9%. Paysafe, formerly Optimal Payments, said its annual profits would be higher than expected with adjusted earnings of $270 million to $276 million, and the shares leapt 28.19p, or 7%, to 417.99p.

Goldman Sachs pointed investors towards Compass Group after removing its sell rating. Shares in the caterer duly rose to new highs, 11p at 1306p.

Software tiddler Imaginatik, off 0.35p, or 11%, at 2.78p, confirmed plans to raise £2.1 million by issuing shares at 2.5p a pop, with only a small portion for existing investors.

Controversial Quindell founder Rob Terry, who has a 9% stake in the AIM company, is unhappy about the placing. His investment vehicle Quob Park Estate, tweeted that going ahead without him was “a big mistake”.

Chairman and founder Matt Cooper will increase his stake to 29%, just below the level at which he must launch a full takeover, thought to be an effort to ward off a potential bid from Terry.

Last year, Cooper distanced himself from Terry and rubbished claims the pair had a relationship.

There was also a £10.2 million placing at 64.5p a share for cancer diagnostics firm Angle, which rose 2.88p to 67.38p as it managed to tap investors for no discount, as is the norm for AIM firms.