Scout24 promotes sustainability at all levels

Berlin/Munich, 1 April 2019 -

• Update of CSR Report 2018 released today
• ImmobilienScout24 determined the most searched apartment in Germany
• Gender pay gap reduced from 10% to 7% within one year
• Focus for 2019: sustainable product development

ImmobilienScout24 brings data expertise to debate on housing shortages

Scout24 used its extensive databases in 2018 more specifically to make a contribution to socially relevant issues. In the course of the German government's Housing Summit in September 2018, the "Baut, was gesucht wird" campaign (only in German) initiated by ImmobilienScout24 drew attention to real bottlenecks in the German housing market on the basis of extensive data analysis and at the same time formulated a clear demand for the policy of demand-oriented new construction. The most looked for apartment of Germany has 2.5 rooms, 66 square meters and costs 446 euro. A housing offer of this category gets on the average scarcely 1,700 inquiries. That resulted in the evaluation of approx. 40,000 listings for rented apartments and shows clearly that currently demand is not met by construction. Based on these findings, ImmobilienScout24 developed 10 key requirements (only in German) for a functioning real estate market.

Sustainable solutions for socially relevant topics

Scout24 is also a company committed to the development of sustainable product solutions. During the "Hack Weeks", which take place twice a year, employees have the opportunity to develop new products outside their daily work. In order to promote socially relevant projects and initiatives, the "Social Impact" category was introduced for the first time in 2018. The aim of this category is to identify social challenges to which ImmobilienScout24 or AutoScout24 can contribute. In 2018, for example, we worked on offering searches at ImmobilienScout24 in more languages in order to give more seekers access to the German housing market. In total, the Scout24 Group's employees invested around 850 working hours in social product solutions.

Scout24 improves ecological balance by investing in new offices

Scout24 also made progress in the area of environmental management and improved its ecological balance sheet. For example, the Munich office building is supplied with 100 percent green electricity. The paper used there also consists of 96 percent recycled paper. In the construction of the new office building in Berlin, the topic of sustainability is of great importance to Scout24 AG. ImmobilienScout24 will probably move into a new building at Berlin's main railway station with an improved ecological balance in the third quarter of 2020. This will be one of the most modern and sustainable office buildings in Berlin.

Fair payment and individual support for Scout24 employees

Scout24 has revised its personnel development strategy in order to promote individual development, intensive exchange and employee satisfaction as a responsible employer. In particular, further training courses were expanded in the year under review, which were already used by around 90 percent of the Scouts. Scout24 is also committed to fair pay for men and women in comparable positions. The gender pay gap was reduced from around 10 percent to 7 percent within one year. Management has set itself the goal of closing the pay gap completely as quickly as possible.

Outlook for 2019 

"We can look back on a successful reporting year in which we were able to further advance the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility in our company, initiate processes and set new impulses. We are very proud of this. Our goal for 2019 is an even stronger focus on sustainable product development and the consolidation of product ethics. We want to anchor CSR work even more firmly in our business model," explains Christian Gisy, CFO of Scout24.

The complete update 2018 of the CSR Report is available for download at csrbericht.scout24.com. The CSR report has been prepared in accordance with the international reporting standard of the Global Reporting Initiative.

About Scout24

With our leading digital marketplaces, ImmobilienScout24 and AutoScout24, in Germany and across Europe we are inspiring people to make their best decisions on finding a home and a car. More than 1,500 employees are working on the success of our products and services, putting the consumers' needs first in order to create a connected network for living and mobility. Scout24 AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A12DM80, G24). For further information, please visit www.scout24.com, our Corporate Blog and Tech Blog, or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Medienkontakt

Jan Flaskamp
Vice President Communications & Marketing
Fon +49 30 24 301-0721
E-Mail: [email protected]