OnTheMarket plc Court of Appeal dismisses Gascoigne Halman appeal (0344O)
24 January 2019 - 11:06PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMOTMP
RNS Number : 0344O
OnTheMarket plc
24 January 2019
24 January 2019
ONTHEMARKET PLC
("OnTheMarket", the "Group" or the "Company")
OnTheMarket welcomes Court of Appeal decision to dismiss
opponent's appeal in the Agents' Mutual v Gascoigne Halman case
The Board of OnTheMarket plc notes that the Court of Appeal has
today issued judgment in favour of its wholly-owned subsidiary
Agents' Mutual Ltd with regard to all the competition issues in its
proceedings against Gascoigne Halman.
As the major part of its defence against our claim of breach of
contract, Gascoigne Halman, led by its parent Connells Group and
with funding from Zoopla, had alleged that Agents' Mutual's
contract with them was void for illegality on competition law
grounds. Following a 10-day hearing, the Competition Appeal
Tribunal issued a unanimous judgment in July 2017 which rejected
those arguments and supported the view consistently held by the
Board of Agents' Mutual and OnTheMarket that the Company's strategy
for entry to the portals market has been pro-competitive and that
the Company has operated within the law.
The Court of Appeal has today unanimously and comprehensively
dismissed the appeal by Gascoigne Halman of the Tribunal's
findings.
Whilst the residual non-competition issues relating to our claim
remain to be resolved, OnTheMarket emerges from this stage of the
litigation stronger and as committed as ever to delivering a
market-leading, agent-backed alternative to Rightmove and Zoopla,
continuing to inject much-needed competition in the portals market,
offering a first-class service to agents at sustainably fair prices
and becoming the go-to portal for serious property-seekers.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
OnTheMarket
Ian Springett, CEO
Clive Beattie, CFO 0207 930 0777
TB Cardew (Financial PR adviser) 0207 930 0777 / onthemarket@tbcardew.com
Ed Orlebar 07738 724 630
Alycia MacAskill 07876 222 703
Zeus Capital (Nominated Adviser/Joint
Broker)
Martin Green, Pippa Hamnett,
Jamie Peel 0203 829 5000
(Corporate Finance)
Benjamin Robertson, John Goold
(Broking)
Stockdale Securities (Joint Broker)
Daniel Harris, Rose Ramsden 0207 601 6100
Background on OnTheMarket:
OnTheMarket plc, the agent-backed company which operates the
OnTheMarket.com property portal, is the third biggest UK
residential property portal provider in terms of traffic. It aims
to deliver a market--leading, agent--backed alternative to
Rightmove and Zoopla, offering a first--class service to agents at
sustainably fair prices and becoming the go--to portal for serious
property--seekers.
OnTheMarket plc was admitted to AIM in February 2018 with GBP30
million in new capital in order to support a new growth strategy
for the business.
Compared with its performance in February 2018, the company had
by September 2018 doubled contracted agent offices to more than
11,000, trebled monthly visit traffic to more than 17.4 million
visits and quadrupled email and telephone leads to agents.
The Company announced in December 2018 that it had listing
agreements with UK estate and letting agents with more than 12,000
branches - an increase of more than 6,500 branches since
Admission.
At its IPO in February 2018, OnTheMarket was 70% owned by over
two thousand agent firms.
With backing from its agent owners, OnTheMarket has developed
unique sources of competitive advantage such as the thousands of
"New & exclusive" property listings it receives every month
from its agents to display 24 hours or more before they are on
Rightmove or Zoopla.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
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Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
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contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
MSCLLFIFLVISFIA
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January 24, 2019 07:06 ET (12:06 GMT)
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