14th Feb 2019 09:03
LONDON (Alliance News) - Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC on Thursday reported a "good" performance in 2018, while it also announced a change in its board chair.
Chair Bruce Carnegie-Brown is to leave at Moneysupermarket's May 9 annual general meeting. He has been in the role since 2014, and on the board since 2010.
Replacing him will be Non-Executive Director Robin Freestone, stepping up to the role at the AGM.
"Robin has a wealth of experience of online and digital businesses, and is well equipped to be an excellent chair for Moneysupermarket Group," said Sally James, senior independent director.
Turning to results, Moneysupermarket's revenue in 2018 grew 8% on the year before to GBP355.6 million, with pretax profit climbing to GBP106.9 million from GBP96.1 million.
Insurance did well, growing revenue by 4% to GBP183.0 million in a tough market, while Money improved revenue 3% to GBP88.1 million. Home Services revenue climbed 15% to GBP49.2 million in a strong year, Moneysupermarket said.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation were GBP129.4 million, up 2%, year-on-year, meeting the board's expectations.
Estimated customer savings at December's end were GBP2.1 billion from GBP2.0 billion a year before, though active users did fall to 12.9 million from 13.2 million.
Revenue per active user improved, however, to GBP15.90 from GBP14.80. The company's marketing margin fell to 63% from 65%.
Moneysupermarket is paying a final dividend of 8.10 pence per share, taking the total for 2018 to 11.05p, 6% higher year-on-year. The firm has also announced a further GBP40 million will be returning to shareholders in 2019.
Chief Executive Mark Lewis commented: "In 2018 we made great progress on our Reinvent strategy. As well as growing the business we helped save customers a record GBP2.1 billion. Our investment in optimising our sites means we have made saving even easier.
"In 2019 we are taking price comparison to the next stage by offering people more personalised ways to save and on more of their household bills."
The first part of Reinvent was to make its sites easier to use, while the second is to "leverage our technology platform to enable us to lead the innovation of price comparison and unlock new market growth".
Shares were 5.4% higher early on Thursday at a price of 329.60 pence each.
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