Singapore-based property portal PropertyGuru Group Limited has on Thursday announced that the group’s revenue increased by 12 percent year on year to SGD 37 million ($27.28 million).

PropertyGuru said in a statement that the group posted a net loss of SGD 6 million ($4.42 million) in the second quarter, as compared to a net income of SGD 4 million ($2.95 million) a year ago.

The group’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at SGD 5 million ($3.69 million). This compares to an adjusted EBITDA of SGD 300,000 ($220,000) a year ago.

Singapore marketplaces revenue increased 25 percent year over year to SGD 22 million ($16.22 million), as the number of overall agents and the average revenue per agent (ARPA) grew in the quarter.

Malaysia marketplaces revenue increased 12 percent year over year to SGD 7 million ($5.16 million), as the company continues to benefit from iProperty and PropertyGuru Malaysia’s combined market strength.

The firm’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Hari V. Krishnan said that PropertyGuru delivered a good quarter of double-digit revenue growth and a double-digit adjusted EBITDA margin, standing firm in a Southeast Asian economy wrestling with inflation and rising interest rates.

According to him, this was the result of focused investments and execution despite ongoing macro challenges in Vietnam, where last year’s government interventions in the property market continue to impact consumer sentiment and transaction volumes.

“Our focus on leveraging generative artificial intelligence (AI) has bolstered our market-leading products while driving improvements in code quality and engineering productivity,” he said.

It is noted that in June, the launched GuruPicks, an automated and personalized feed of property listings based on machine learning algorithms, and upgraded its AI image moderation engine to continue to enhance listing quality.

“Earlier this week, we made strategic decisions to phase out our Indonesia marketplace business, Rumah.com, and sunset one of our software as a service (SaaS) products, FastKey,

“We regularly review our progress as a business and take necessary steps to optimize our resources,” said Krishnan.

According to him, these actions align with the firm’s time-tested approach to focus their investments on businesses with strong unit economics that have shown the potential to achieve scalable growth.

Meanwhile, PropertyGuru Chief Financial Officer Joe Dische said that in the second quarter, the firm’s overall business performed well even as they managed through a slower than expected recovery in Vietnam.

Excluding Vietnam, he said the group’s revenues grew at a solid rate of 22 percent.

He also noted that the adjusted EBITDA of SGD 5 million ($3.69 million) this quarter meaningfully increased from the second quarter of 2022, as they benefited from both good operating leverage and cost management.

According to him, this resulted in both revenues and adjusted EBITDA increasing by SGD 4 million ($2.95 million) when compared to the second quarter of 2022.

Vietnam marketplaces revenue, however, decreased 27 percent year over year to SGD 5 million ($3.69 million), as a reduction in the number of listings was partially offset by an increase in average revenue per listing.

“I would also note that we have seen some recent positives signs from Vietnam, as the government has begun lowering interest rates and is working to improve the accessibility of credit for both consumers and developers,

“Despite the current macro-economic conditions in Southeast Asia, we remain focused on delivering sustained, profitable growth as we leverage our market leading solutions,” he said.

He also said the firm will prudently manage discretionary spending and target value-additive investment opportunities.

“In this regard, our recent actions related to the Indonesia marketplace and FastKey will help us better prioritize our resources and investments and are not expected to have a material impact on our 2023 outlook,

“Of note, we have taken SGD 8 million ($5.9 million) in one-time impairment and restructuring costs this quarter related to these actions,” he added.

Going forward, PropertyGuru continues to project that full year 2023 revenues will be between SGD 160 million ($118 million) and SGD 170 million ($125 million) and adjusted EBITDA will be between SGD 11 million ($8 million) and SGD 15 million ($11 million).

However, due to the ongoing situation in Vietnam, the firm now believes revenues will be at the bottom end of the range.

The firm still anticipated that conditions in Vietnam will begin to improve in the latter stages of the year.

As noted last quarter, the firm said intervention by the government of Vietnam in the property market, residual political uncertainty in Malaysia, tightened residential policies in Singapore, a lack of clarity in global fiscal policy stemming from rising interest rates, greater inflationary pressures, and global supply chain issues are all short-term factors that may continue to impact the company’s operations and warrant a conservative outlook in 2023.

Longer-term, the company remains bullish on its growth trajectory, prospects for improving profitability, and the fundamental opportunity that exists in our core markets.

PropertyGuru first quarter revenue climbs 16 percent to $24.5M