20th Feb 2020 09:15
(Alliance News) - Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC on Thursday reported profit growth and boosted its dividend in what was a "standout" year for it MoneySavingExpert energy UK price site.
Shares in the company were up 9.7% at 339.80 pence each in London on Thursday morning, making it the best performer on the FTSE 250 index.
In 2019, revenue was 9.2% higher at GBP388.4 million from GBP355.6 million, with pretax profit rising 8.5% to GBP116.0 million from GBP106.9 million.
Moneysupermarket edged its full-year payout 6.0% higher to 11.71 pence per share from 11.05p.
Outgoing Chief Executive Officer Mark Lewis said: "It's good to report the group returned to profit growth and once again helped UK households save over GBP2 billion on their bills. Innovation will continue in 2020 as MoneySavingExpert, the most trusted brand for finding energy deals, launches a new energy autoswitching service."
The firm on Wednesday said Lewis intends to step down to "pursue his career in a new direction".
The FTSE 250-listed company did not give a specific date for his departure, but Lewis has said he wished to ensure a "smooth transition" to his successor.
The company said the MoneySavingExpert website attracted "record visitors" in 2019.
"Attracted record visitors. Once more, MSE is shown to be the voice of authority for those seeking help navigating their finances and in areas such as energy and travel," the company added.
Estimated customer savings, one of the company performance indicators, dipped 4.8% to GBP2.0 billion from GBP2.1 billion in 2018. Another key performance tracker is active users, which rose 1.6% to 13.1 million from 12.9 million.
"Overall trading dynamics have improved in the first six weeks of 2020. Home Services has traded in line with the prior year, despite the strong comparative. The board is confident of delivering market expectations for the year," the firm added.
The company also said it has appointed Supriya Uchil and James Bilefield as non-executive directors.
Uchil, who joins on March 1 was previously, chief product officer of Booking Go a unit of Booking Holdings Inc. Uchil has also held senior roles at Amazon.com Inc, Moneysupermarket said.
Bilefield, who joins on May 1 is chair of staffing company SThree PLC and a non-executive director of transport firm Stagecoach Group PLC.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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