Dividend rise is Rightmove for investors

RIGHTMOVE defied the lacklustre housing market yesterday by revealing better-than-expected results and a growing share of online property searches.

The group, which operates one of the ten most-popular websites in the UK, said property searches rose 23 per cent to 4.8 billion in the six months to 30 June, helping its share of the market rise to 83 per cent from 82 per cent a year earlier.

Rightmove has also been helped by the "very rapid" increase in the popularity of mobile devices, with searches through phones and tablet computers accounting for up to 20 per cent of all visitors.

Underlying profits rose 25 per cent to 33.4 million, beating the City's expectations of 30.2m. The group announced a windfall for shareholders as its dividend will increase by 40 per cent to 7p a share.