Final Results

HomeServe plc

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2016

Good customer and profit growth with step change in US expansion

Group profit up 9% to £93.0m with an 11% increase in customer numbers to 7.0m

UK - Customer numbers increase 3% from 2.1m to 2.2m with profits also increasing 3% to £58.0m

- Acquisition of a heating services business brings gas capability and 0.1m customers

- Good marketing performance delivering 0.4m gross new customers (FY15: 0.3m)

- Retention rate of 82% reflecting increased number of first year renewals (FY15: 83%)

USA - Profits up 89% to £12.1m combined with 17% customer growth to 2.3m

- Continued strong marketing performance adding 0.7m gross new customers (FY15: 0.7m)

- Customer loyalty remains strong with 82% retention rate (FY15: 82%)

- Strong partner pipeline, with 2.8m households added in the year, up to 32m households (FY15: 29m)

- Agreement to acquire Utility Service Partners Inc. (USP) for $75m, adding a further 9.4m partner households and 0.4m customers, expected to complete in the first half of FY17

France - Customer numbers up 7% to 1.0m with stable profits of £23.2m

- Renewed sales momentum adding 0.2m gross new customers (FY15: 0.1m)

- High retention rates continue at 89% (FY15: 89%)

Spain - Customer numbers up 11% to 1.2m with profits increasing from £7.5m to £9.9m

- Retention rate of 77%, reflecting the increased number of first year renewals (FY15: 79%)

New Markets - Investment of £5.9m in Italy and digital innovation

- Digital hub established to enhance self-serve customer experience and drive business efficiencies

- Started to make progress on international development

Group - Strong earnings growth, increasing dividend growth, high cash generation and a strong balance sheet

- Adjusted earnings per share up 15% to 21.8p with proposed 10% increase in dividend payment to 12.7p per share

- Year end net debt of £169.5m, 1.4x adjusted EBITDA, reflecting payment of £99.4m special dividend in July 2015 (FY15: £64.1m; 0.6x adjusted EBITDA) 

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1. All references to adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating profit or loss, adjusted profit before tax and adjusted earnings per share throughout the announcement exclude the amortisation of acquisition intangibles and exceptional items, as reconciled to the statutory equivalent in the Financial Review.

Richard Harpin, Chief Executive, HomeServe plc, commented:

"This has been another very good year for HomeServe with all businesses performing well.

We are particularly excited by the prospects for our US business. Profits have increased significantly whilst at the same time delivering strong customer growth. The agreement to acquire Utility Service Partners, whilst providing a significant boost to FY18 profits will increase our US affinity partner households by 9m to 42m and will, as a result, enable us to accelerate our growth.

In the UK, we have a strong business, which has grown profit and customers. France had an excellent year, achieving the 1.0m customer milestone, and we saw continued customer and profit growth in Spain.

I am confident we will deliver on our expectation of further good growth in FY17, alongside continued investment in marketing, business development, international expansion and innovation initiatives."

Enquiries

A presentation for analysts and investors will take place at 9am this morning at UBS, 1 Finsbury Avenue, London EC2M 2PP.

There will be a listen-only conference call via +44 02031394830, pin code 29399809#, and also a live webcast available via www.homeserveplc.com.

BUSINESS REVIEW

This has been a very good year for the Group, delivering 9% adjusted profit growth to £93.0m and 11% customer growth to 7.0m, with over two thirds of our customers now outside the UK.

The USA is our most significant opportunity and we are particularly pleased with the recently announced agreement to acquire Utility Service Partners Inc. (USP) which will increase our US utility partner footprint to 42m households.

Our business is built on developing long-term relationships with our affinity partners. Through a membership model we offer our customers heating, plumbing and electrical repairs and services. In the UK and USA we also offer heating installation services. Our extensive repair network comprises directly employed, franchised and sub-contract networks of engineers.

The Group has five operating segments: UK, USA, France, Spain and New Markets. The New Markets division comprises our business in Italy, investment in innovation and digital initiatives and our international development activities. Prior to its disposal on 1 September 2015, New Markets also included our investment in developing a German business.

Financial performance for the year ended 31 March

Adjusted operating margin is adjusted operating profit/(loss) divided by revenue.

Performance metrics for the year ended 31 March

Affinity partner households does not include Utility Service Partners (USP) or AARP households in the USA.

BUSINESS REVIEW (continued)

Focussing on our strategic priorities, we have made good progress across a number of areas of the business. We have added 11 new partnerships in the USA and renewed six long-term agreements in the UK such that we now work with over 90 affinity partners across the Group. We continue to invest in business development in all of our markets to establish relationships and sign new affinity partners.

Customer numbers increased 11% from 6.3m to 7.0m with good growth across all the businesses. In the UK we ended the year with 2.2m customers, up 3% on the prior year (FY15: 2.1m), principally reflecting good marketing performance combined with 0.1m customers added through the acquisition of Home Energy Services Limited. Response rates remain strong in the USA, where we have added 0.7m gross new customers and have increased year end customer numbers by 17% to 2.3m (FY15: 2.0m). Very pleasingly we have seen renewed sales momentum in France, following the signing of Lyonnaise des Eaux last year. We have delivered 7% customer growth, achieving the 1.0m customer milestone (FY15: 0.9m). Spain increased customer numbers by 11% to 1.2m following continued success with its largest partner Endesa (FY15: 1.1m).

This year we completed over 2m repairs (FY15: 1.8m) across the Group and once again delivered an improved customer experience, with a reduction in customer complaints and increased levels of customer satisfaction. Customer loyalty also remains strong with a Group retention rate of 83%, consistent with the prior year.

During the year we completed the acquisition of Home Energy Services Limited in the UK which, combined with our existing franchise and sub-contractor network, significantly increases our gas delivery capability in the UK. Focussing on heating services, we now offer heating installations services in the USA with investment planned in the UK to further develop our franchised heating installation network.

In addition to good customer growth, we also achieved good profit growth across the Group with a 9% increase in Group adjusted profit to £93.0m (FY15: £85.4m) and 15% adjusted EPS growth. Underpinning this growth was the USA, with adjusted operating profit up 89% to £12.1m (FY15: £6.4m) together with increases in the UK and Spain. Adjusted operating profit in France increased 7% in local currency although Sterling profit of £23.2m, was £0.2m lower than the prior year, reflecting adverse foreign exchange movements of £1.4m.

On 31 March 2016, we signed an agreement to acquire USP, which is expected to complete in the first half of FY17 following normal course regulatory approvals. USP brings 0.4m customers, 9.4m households, over 300 partnerships and a relationship with the National League of Cities, an organisation dedicated to helping city leaders and an advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages across the USA. We expect this acquisition to be earnings neutral in FY17 and then to add $15m of EBITDA in FY18.

We continued to invest in digital innovation, establishing a digital hub to develop an end to end, consistent, digital experience for our customers enhancing the self-serve customer journey and enabling more effective product sales.

While still early days, we have commenced appraisal of extending our services to other international markets with a view to entering the home services market in partnership with local utilities.

Technology investment

We have invested in our core customer system and other digital and technology solutions to make us more efficient and to improve our customer service. We are pleased with the progress we are making with the implementation of our new core Pega Customer Management System, which will be operational in the UK business in FY17 with roll out to the USA thereafter. This system provides a single view of the customer and all their interactions with us. This will enable more informed discussions with customers, reduce the customer effort, improve our marketing effectiveness and reduce our cost to serve.

We also now intend to invest in upgrading our claims handing and contractor deployment technology to improve the claims process for our customers giving them better visibility over the progress of their claim and their engineer.

People

During the year we continued to invest in strengthening our team, appointing Chris Havemann as a new Non-Executive director to the Board, Rafaele Petruzzo as our Chief Digital Officer to lead our digital hub investment and Giles Desforges as Chief Executive of Global Partnerships to lead our international expansion. Our total headcount now stands at over 4,800 (FY15: 4,025), a good indicator of our strong performance and growth. Our people continue to deliver great service to our customers and we are therefore delighted employee engagement is now 81%, 3 percentage points higher than last year.

Dividend

Given the Group's good performance and the Board's confidence in its future prospects, the Board is proposing a 13% increase in the final dividend to 8.9p per share, bringing the total ordinary dividend for the year to 12.7p (FY15: 11.5p) an increase of 10% which is 1.72x covered by the FY16 adjusted earnings per share compared to 1.65x in FY15.

A special dividend of 30p per share (£99.4m) proposed in the prior year was paid to shareholders in July 2015.

Outlook

All of our businesses are performing well and have good prospects. Looking ahead, we expect Group growth to be driven primarily by our international businesses, with the UK continuing to deliver a solid performance. We are particularly excited by the prospects for our US business where profits increased significantly in FY16 whilst at the same time delivering strong customer growth. As previously announced, the acquisition of Utility Service Partners will be earnings neutral in FY17 due to increased marketing investment and integration costs however, we expect adjusted EBITDA in FY18, the first full year of ownership of USP, to be enhanced by around $15m.

The Group anticipates further good growth in FY17, alongside continued investment in marketing, business development, international expansion and innovation initiatives.

The following sections report on the operational and financial performance of each of our operating segments.

United Kingdom

· Solid business with 2.2m customers delivering a 3% increase in profit to £58.0m (FY15: 2.1m; £56.4m)

· Acquisition of heating services business brings gas capability and 0.1m customers

· Good marketing performance adding 0.4m gross new customers (FY15: 0.3m)

· Increased loyalty and income from Year 2 + customers reflecting the quality of our service

Net policy income is defined as policy revenue net of sales taxes and underwriting

Income per customer is calculated by dividing net policy income by the number of customers

This has been a good year for the UK business as we continued our focus on delivering great customer service. We have invested in our networks and are seeing this investment rewarded with reduced claims related complaints and improved customer satisfaction. We have renewed a number of affinity partnerships, acquired a heating services business and invested in business development, marketing and innovation. We expect continued investment in FY17 in partner opportunities and innovation initiatives including the launch and distribution of our water leak detector.

Operational performance

We continue to have strong relationships with our partners and we are pleased to confirm that during the year we renewed six of our utility partnerships on similar commercial terms. We proactively engage our partners in developing successful marketing campaigns, with an increasing number of new customers referred to us through our partners' call centres. During October, we signed a five year agreement for Aviva to underwrite our home assistance products and we are also developing a home assistance offering for Aviva's UK customers.

Customer numbers increased 3% from 2.1m to 2.2m principally reflecting a good marketing performance combined with 0.1m customers added through the acquisition of Home Energy Services Limited.

Leading with our comprehensive water product, we acquired 0.4m gross new customers (FY15: 0.3m), the majority of which were acquired through direct mail as this continues to perform well. We continue to see customers buying multiple policies through our digital channels and have also seen strong momentum in our partner channels, doubling the number of new customers acquired through this channel.

As expected, retention has reduced slightly as the number of year one customers, who typically have lower renewal rates, has increased. Importantly we continue to see strong retention rates for customers who have been with us for more than a year. In this case, the retention rate for customers in years two and beyond was 87% in FY16 (FY15: 85%). In light of the increased number of new customers in FY16, we expect the blended retention rate will reduce slightly in FY17 with year end customer numbers of around 2.2m.

During the year we acquired a gas services business, Home Energy Services Limited, for net cash outflow of £3.2m in the year. This business, based in Nottingham, combined with our existing network, significantly increases our gas delivery capability and serves as a platform for further development.

Delivering good customer service is central to our business and during the year we enhanced the claims experience, enabling more digital interaction, while also investing in our engineer network. We now have over 700 directly employed engineers, up from 444 last year. Our customers continue to benefit from the comprehensive levels of cover in our products and this year we completed 0.8m repairs, 0.1m more than last year. We see good levels of satisfaction, as indicated informally on Reevoo and Trust Pilot where our scores are currently 93% and 8.3 respectively (FY15: 94% and 8.2 respectively).

We invested in business development and innovation building good momentum and prospects as we enter FY17. We now have a pipeline of partner opportunities with a mix of utilities and non utilities, some with small policy books. Signing new partners along with the opportunity to acquire small policy books will be an important factor in enabling the UK business to grow further in the future. We have developed and tested a water leak detector which can identify water leaks with functionality to automatically notify the homeowner enabling them to then book a repair with us. The product will be available through certain partnerships during FY17. We continue to evolve our smart home plans and while still small in scale, we have developed a franchised heating installation network which we expect to extend in FY17.

Financial performance

Revenue in the year was 2% higher than the prior year at £291.8m (FY15: £285.5m) principally reflecting a small increase in policy income, the acquisition of Home Energy Services Limited and repair network revenue.

Revenue in the UK business is analysed as policy income of £200.2m (FY15: £198.3m), which included post acquisition income from Home Energy Services Limited (£4.2m), repair network revenue of £81.0m (FY15: £76.8m) and other income of £10.6m (FY15: £10.4m). Other income relates to revenue in respect of pay on use repairs, third party claims handling services and transactions with other Group companies.

The increase in repair network revenue again reflects the increase in the number of repair jobs completed in the year.

Income per customer was £94 (FY15: £93) with a £7 increase in income from our Year 2+ customers to £125 (FY15: £118) reflecting price initiatives and increasing levels of cover taken by customers, which was, in part offset by the higher proportion of new customers who typically join on an introductory offer. Going forward, we expect net income per customer to increase as we see the benefits of more targeted customer engagement following implementation of the new Pega Customer Management System.

Adjusted operating costs were £233.8m (FY15: £229.1m), 2% higher than prior year, with indirect cost savings more than offset by an increase in direct costs due to higher volumes of activity and post acquisition costs from Home Energy Services Limited. Adjusted operating profit was £58.0m, 3% higher than the prior year (FY15: £56.4m) resulting in a sustainable 20% profit margin.

United States of America

· Significant profit growth, up 81% to $17.5m (FY15:$9.7m)

· Customer numbers up 17% to 2.3m reflecting strength of marketing and customer loyalty (FY15: 2.0m)

· Strong partner pipeline with 2.8m households added in the year

· Agreement to acquire Utility Service Partners Inc. (USP) increasing footprint by 9.4m households

Affinity partner households does not include Utility Service Partners (USP) or AARP households

Our business continues to grow strongly, and with a solid foundation of almost 70 partners and 2.3m customers, the business has made a step change in its expansion, with the agreement to acquire USP, a business with over 300 partnerships and 0.4m customers.

Operational performance

The USA remains our most significant opportunity with 128m households of which we now have affinity partner relationships that provide services to 32m. On 31 March 2016, we entered into an agreement to acquire USP, a leading provider of home assistance policies, which once completed will increase our footprint by a further 9.4m households.

During the year we signed 11 new utility affinity partnerships and extended our relationship with certain current partners, adding a total of 2.8m utility households. Our pipeline of potential partnerships is strong, with negotiations at all stages of the process.

The agreement with USP marks a step change in the expansion of the business in the USA. USP employs a similar business model to us, having partnerships with around 300 water municipals and a small number of utility companies. USP is the exclusive home warranty partner of the National League of Cities, an organisation dedicated to helping city leaders and an advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages across the USA. USP has 0.4m customers and 0.6m policies. This acquisition will bring significant opportunity to increase penetration of the existing 9.4m USP partner households and provide customers with a broader range of home assistance products. Combining USP with our business, we will offer our products to 42m households through an affinity brand and serve over 2.7m customers. The acquisition is expected to complete in the first half of FY17, following ordinary course regulatory approvals.

During FY15 we signed an affinity partnership with AARP, a membership organisation providing services to over 22m households in the USA. Having now established our relationship with AARP, we are growing the number of customers and expect that it will become one of our largest partners in the USA.

Customer numbers increased 17% to 2.3m (FY15: 2.0m) with 0.7m gross new customers added in the year (FY15: 0.7m). Direct mail continues to be the most significant channel but we have also seen an increase in new customers acquired through our partner and digital channels. Our response rates and payback periods have continued to be attractive and in line with our expectations.

A focus on customer service combined with a number of operational improvements to our retention processes, has ensured we continue to maintain our high level of retention at 82% (FY15: 82%). Moreover, this is despite the continued increase in new customers, who typically have a lower year one retention rate.

Our network of 152 directly employed technicians and almost 1,000 sub-contractors completed 0.4m jobs with an increasing number of water heater installations (FY15 jobs: 0.3m).

Financial performance

Revenue was up 14% to $228.4m (FY15: $199.8m) due to higher renewal income and marketing activity. Income per customer was $91 (FY15: $94) principally reflecting the number of new customers who join with just one product, the mix of products and an increasing repair cost as we expand product coverage. Excluding the impact of USP, we expect income per customer to be broadly stable in FY17.

Adjusted operating costs in the USA were $210.9m, up 11% on prior year (FY15: $190.1m) principally reflecting the increase in customer numbers, partner commissions and continued investment in business development and marketing. Adjusted operating profit increased 81% to $17.5m (FY15: $9.7m) while the adjusted operating profit margin increased 3 percentage points to 8% from 5% in the prior year. We are confident that, in the longer-term, adjusted operating margin will be around 20%, similar to that achieved in the UK.

France

· Renewed sales momentum following Lyonnaise des Eaux partnership

· Strong customer growth, up 7% to 1.0m (FY15: 0.9m)

· Good profit growth, up 7% to €31.4m (FY15: €29.5m)

This has been an excellent year for our French business which has recently rebranded to HomeServe France (formerly Doméo). The partnership with Lyonnaise des Eaux (LDE) has provided fresh sales momentum with resulting strong growth in customer numbers. The business now has a dedicated business development team and is building a pipeline of affinity partner prospects.

Operational performance

We continue to have a strong relationship with Veolia, the leading water provider in France, and have introduced call transfers from their call centres to assist with new customer acquisition activity.

Our partnership with LDE, which was signed at the end of FY15, gained momentum in the first full year of working together. LDE offers our products in its call centres and has achieved good results, with around a third of the gross new customers acquired in the current year being under the LDE brand.

With renewed sales momentum across the business, customer numbers were up 7% and we passed the 1.0m milestone, having added 0.2m gross new customers in the year (FY15: 0.1m). Direct mail continues to be an important channel and is performing as we anticipated. However, sales through our partners' sales channels have developed well and following the launch of the new partnership with LDE, we have seen a particular increase in this channel in the year. Customer loyalty remains high with a retention rate of 89% (FY15: 89%).

All of our repairs in France are managed through our network of around 700 sub-contractors (FY15: 700), who broadly completed the same number of repairs as the prior year.

Financial performance

Revenue was up 9% to €105.0m (FY15: €96.1m) due to continued strong renewals and the strength of sales through the LDE affinity partnership. Adjusted operating costs increased by 11% to €73.6m principally reflecting increased investment in marketing, business development, partner commissions and relocation costs associated with the move from two sites to one purpose built facility in Lyon.

Despite this increased investment, adjusted operating profit was €31.4m, 7% higher than the prior year, principally due to the benefit of higher customer numbers and our pricing strategy. Adjusted operating profit margin remained high at 30% (FY15: 31%).

In line with the prior year, income per customer was €101 (FY15: €101) reflecting the current maturity of the customer base, although this may reduce slightly in the future as the proportion of new customers increases, given they typically initially only hold one policy.

In accordance with Group policy, where a partner originates customers on our behalf, the cost of acquisition is capitalised, held as an intangible asset and amortised as an operating expense. During FY16, we paid €4.2m (FY15: €nil) in respect of customers acquired by LDE, the associated amortisation during the year was €0.4m (FY15: €nil).

Spain

· Strong profit growth, up 46% to €13.9m (FY15: €9.5m)

· Customer numbers up 11% from 1.1m to 1.2m

· Continued strong partnership with Endesa

The Spanish business has delivered good customer and strong profit progression principally reflecting the growth of the Membership business.

Operational performance

Endesa, our largest partner in Spain, has continued to offer our products through its sales channels and we are pleased that we have also agreed terms for our FY17 marketing campaigns. We have an active business development pipeline and are in discussions with other potential partners.

Customer numbers increased 11% to 1.2m at the end of March 2016. The majority of new customers were acquired through Endesa's sales channels where customers are offered an electrical assistance product on an introductory offer, typically at a discount of 50%, with renewals at the full price of €69 in the second year.

Retention in the year was 77%, marginally lower than the prior year (FY15: 79%), reflecting the high proportion of customers in the first renewal cycle, where retention rates are lower than more mature customers.

Our claims handling business in Spain continues to perform well. In line with the prior year the business completed 0.7m jobs (FY15: 0.7m). Our network comprises around 2,000 sub-contractors and 174 Reparalia franchised engineers.

Financial performance

Revenue increased by 15% to €132.8m (FY15: €115.9m) driven by a 37% increase in Membership revenue to €50.4m (FY15: €36.9m) and a 4% increase in revenue in the Claims business to €82.4m (FY15: €79.0m). The increase in the Membership business reflects a higher number of customers renewing on full price products, while the Claims business benefited from a small increase in job volumes.

Income per customer increased by €7 to €41 (FY15: €34), again reflecting the higher mix of renewing customers in part offset by new customers who joined on the introductory offer.

The increase in operating costs principally related to higher customer numbers in the Membership business and slightly higher volumes in the Claims business.

Adjusted operating profit increased €4.4m to €13.9m (FY15: €9.5m), reflecting higher revenue in the Membership business, partially offset by the expected increase in amortisation in the period. Spain reported an adjusted operating margin of 10%, two percentage points higher than the prior year, reflecting the increase in Membership profits.

In accordance with Group policy, where a partner originates customers on our behalf, the cost of acquisition is capitalised, held as an intangible asset and amortised as an operating expense. During FY16, we paid €20.2m (FY15: €20.3m) in respect of customers acquired by Endesa and as at 31 March 2016, the intangible asset amounted to €42.1m (FY15: €35.9m). Amortisation in FY16 was €9.9m, €2.4m higher than the prior year (FY15: €7.5m).

New Markets - including digital innovation

· 0.3m customers in Italy

· Investment in digital technology

· Intention to expand to further international territories

Our New Markets segment consists of our investment in new territories, digital and innovation initiatives. During the year we successfully exited our German business with no material loss on the sale.

In Italy, we have 0.3m customers through our test agreement with Enel (FY15: 0.2m) and we have commenced the testing of alternative products and channels with other potential partners. Key to establishing a sustainable business in Italy is the signing of a long-term agreement with a leading utility.

We have established a digital hub to develop an end to end, consistent, user friendly digital experience for our customers. A new Chief Digital Officer has been appointed to lead this activity and to enhance self-serve functionality at all stages of the customer journey and enable more effective product sales.

We have committed to provide £2m seed funding to a digital start-up called DAD. DAD connects consumers to DIY experts to help fix home repairs.

We have also commenced the appraisal of extending our services to other international markets with a view to entering the home services market in partnership with local utilities, similar to the initial successful joint ventures with South Staffordshire Water in the UK and Veolia in France. While still early days, we have identified a number of attractive markets where, through our current affinity partnerships, we believe we can partner with local utilities.

Financial performance

Our New Markets businesses reported revenue of £20.1m (FY15: £13.8m) reflecting the higher number of customers in Italy. Our investment in New Markets resulted in a loss of £5.9m (FY15: £5.9m) and we would expect a similar level of investment in FY17.

Richard Harpin

Chief Executive

24 May 2016

FINANCIAL REVIEW

These financial results have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Group statutory results

The headline statutory financial results for the Group are presented below.

Statutory profit before tax was £82.6m, £5.9m higher than FY15 (FY15: £76.7m). Statutory profit before tax is reported after the amortisation of acquisition intangibles and exceptional items as detailed below.

Amortisation of acquisition intangibles

The amortisation of acquisition intangibles of £10.4m (FY15: £10.4m) principally relates to customer and other contracts, held by businesses, which were acquired as part of business combinations.

Exceptional items

In the prior year, exceptional items amounted to a net income of £1.7m, of which £2.9m related to the reimbursement of certain costs by our insurers associated with historical UK matters and £1.7m related to the release of surplus provisions. These were partially offset by the cost of a transaction the Group decided not to pursue.

Taxation

The tax charge in the financial year was £21.0m (FY15: £20.6m). The adjusted effective tax rate was 25% (FY15: 27%) primarily reflecting changes in tax rates in the UK and Spain. UK corporation tax is calculated at 20% decreasing to 19% in FY18, FY19 and FY20 with a proposed reduction to 17% in FY21. Taxation for other jurisdictions is calculated at the rates prevailing in the respective countries, all of which are higher than the UK rate.

Cash flow and financing

Our business model continues to be highly cash generative with cash generated by operations in FY16 amounting to £121.7m (FY15: £94.6m), representing a cash conversion ratio against adjusted operating profit of 125% (FY15: 108%).

Working capital increased by £6.1m in FY16 reflecting continued growth, particularly in the USA and Spain. As the business grows, we expect further working capital absorption, though we do anticipate the cash conversion ratio to continue to be in excess of 100%. In the prior year, the exceptional provision related to historical UK matters.

During the year we invested capital expenditure of £63.7m (FY15: £52.8m) which was £6.3m lower than planned due to the timing of certain technology investment, which we now expect to incur in FY17. Expenditure during FY16 included payments of £17.9m (FY15: £16.1m) in respect of the acquisition of customers that Endesa and LDE originated, payments to US partners and investment in the replacement of our core customer system, together with normal investment, principally technology related, across the businesses.

We expect to maintain a higher than usual level of capital expenditure for the next two years, as we continue to invest in our core customer system and invest further in digital and technology solutions to make us more efficient and improve our customer service. We also now plan to upgrade our claims handling and contractor deployment technology to improve the claims process for our customers giving them better visibility over the progress of their claim and their engineer. As a result in FY17 we expect total capital expenditure to be around £55m made up of £35m in systems and technology and £20m in respect of partner payments in Spain, France and the USA. Total capital expenditure is expected to decrease to around £30m in FY18 before normalising at £25m from FY19.

Acquisitions

The acquisition investment of £5.3m principally related to the purchase of Home Energy Services Limited, a heating services business in the UK (£3.2m), £1.1m deferred consideration in respect of acquisitions completed in prior periods (FY15: £1.1m) and £1.0m in relation to the acquisition of a small policy book in the USA.

On 31 March 2016 we agreed to acquire Utility Service Partners Inc. (USP) for a consideration of $75m which will be funded from existing facilities on completion of the transaction, which is anticipated in the first half of FY17, following ordinary course regulatory approvals.

Earnings per share

Adjusted earnings per share for the year increased 15% from 19.0p to 21.8p. The weighted average number of shares decreased from 326.7m to 313.9m due to the impact of the share consolidation. On a statutory basis, earnings per share increased from 17.2p to 19.6p.

Dividend

Given the Group's good performance and the Board's confidence in its future prospects, the Board is proposing to increase the final dividend to 8.9p per share (FY15: 7.87p) to be paid on 1 August 2016 to shareholders on the register on 8 July 2016.

Together with the interim dividend declared in November 2015 of 3.8p (November 2014: 3.63p), this represents a 10% increase in the dividend payment of 12.7p (FY15: 11.5p) which is 1.72x covered by the FY16 adjusted earnings per share compared to 1.65x cover in FY15. As previously indicated, the Board intends to adopt a progressive dividend policy and expects to target a dividend cover in the range 1.75x - 2x over the medium term.

In July 2015, a special dividend of £99.4m was paid to shareholders, which was followed by a share consolidation.

Net debt and finance costs

The Group targets net debt in the range of 1.0-1.5x adjusted EBITDA, measured at 31 March each year. With net debt of £169.5m and adjusted EBITDA of £122.7m the Group was within this range at 1.4x. As previously stated, we will be prepared to see leverage outside that range for reasonable periods of time if circumstances warrant that, and the range itself will be subject to periodic review.

During October 2015 the Group secured £50m medium-term funding in the form of a Private Placement due for repayment in 2022.

The Group's net interest paid was £3.0m with an interest accrual of £0.9m as at 31 March 2016, which was subsequently paid in April 2016. Cash finance costs in the prior year were £4.1m and included the arrangement fees payable in respect of the Group's £300m revolving credit facility that was signed in July 2014.

Foreign exchange impact

The impact of changes in the € and $ exchange rates between FY15 and FY16 has resulted in the reported revenue of our international businesses decreasing by £2.9m and adjusted operating profit decreasing by £2.2m.

The impact of foreign exchange rate movements on the individual businesses is summarised in the table below.

Statutory and pro-forma reconciliations

The Group believes that adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating profit, adjusted profit before tax and adjusted earnings per share, all of which excludes the amortisation of acquisition intangibles and exceptional items are important performance indicators for monitoring the business.

This report uses a number of adjusted measures to highlight the Group's results excluding the above amounts. The table below provides a reconciliation between the statutory and adjusted items.

Principal risks and uncertainties

HomeServe has a risk management framework which provides a structured and consistent process for identifying, assessing and responding to risks. These risks are assessed in relation to the Group's strategy, business performance and financial condition and a formal risk mitigation plan is agreed with clear ownership and accountability. Risk management operates at all levels throughout the Group, across geographies and business lines.

Risks to HomeServe's business are either specific to HomeServe's business model, such as affinity partner relationships and underwriting, or more general, such as the impact of competition and regulatory compliance.

The table below sets out what the Board believes to be the principal risks and uncertainties facing the Group, the mitigating actions for each, and an update on any change in the profile of each risk during the past year. These should be read in conjunction with the Business Review and the Financial Review. Additional risks and uncertainties of which we are not currently aware or which we currently believe are not significant may also adversely affect our strategy, business performance or financial condition in the future.

The Board believes that all identified risks carry equal importance and weighting as in the prior year with updates to the nature of those risks detailed below.

Viability statement

In accordance with provision C.2.2 of the UK Corporate Governance Code 2014, the Directors have assessed the viability of the Group over a three year period to 31 March 2019. The Directors believe that a three year forward looking period is appropriate as it is aligned to the timeframe that management focus upon, the performance period in respect of long-term incentive schemes for senior management and it is the period of assessment for recoverable values of cash generating units.

The Group has a formalised process of budgeting, reporting and review along with procedures to forecast its profitability, capital position, funding requirement and cash flows. These plans provide information to the Directors which are used to ensure the adequacy of resources available for the Group to meet its business objectives, both on a short-term and strategic basis. The plans for the period commencing on 1 April 2016 were reviewed by the Executive Committee in February and then approved by the Board in March 2016.

In making this statement, the Board carried out a robust assessment of the principal risks facing the Group, including those that would threaten its business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity as set out in the Principal Risks and Uncertainties. The Group has an embedded risk management framework and all major risks are scored based on their significance and likelihood and these are reviewed regularly by the Audit and Risk Committee.

Various stress tests have also been performed on scenarios such as the impact of losing an affinity partnership or a lowering of retention in a given country.

The Directors' assessment has been made with reference to geographical spread of the Group operations and its strong financial position resulting from a combination of commercial partnerships and high customer retention.

The business is geographically spread across the UK, Continental Europe and North America; in each established territory the business has long-term contractual relationships with utility businesses providing access to in excess of 92m households under affinity partner brands. Retention rates are high across all established businesses, resulting in stable and recurring cashflows from a large diverse customer base.

Considering the Group's current position, the principal risks and the Board's assessment of the Group's future, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over a period of at least three years to 31 March 2019.

Going concern

The Group's business activities, together with the factors likely to affect its future development, performance and position are set out in the Business Review and Financial Review.

The Directors have reviewed the Group's Budget and medium-term plans, including related cash flows for the period to March 2019 and concluded that they are in line with expectations. In addition the Directors have reviewed the Group's position in respect of material uncertainties and have concluded that there are no items that would affect going concern or that should be separately disclosed.

The Directors have concluded that they have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

This statement was approved by the Board of Directors on 24 May 2016 and is signed on its behalf by:

Johnathan Ford

Chief Financial Officer

24 May 2016

Responsibility statement

The responsibility statement below has been prepared in connection with the Company's full annual report for the year ending 31 March 2016. Certain parts thereof are not included within this announcement.

We confirm to the best of our knowledge:

· the Group financial statements, prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole;

· the strategic report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties they face and

· the annual report and financial statements taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Group's performance, business model and strategy.

This responsibility statement was approved by the Board of Directors on 24 May 2016 and is signed on its behalf by

Richard Harpin

Chief Executive Officer

Johnathan Ford

Chief Financial Officer

Group Income Statement

Year ended 31 March 2016

Group Balance Sheet

31 March 2016

Group Statement of Comprehensive Income

Year ended 31 March 2016

Group Statement of Changes in Equity

Year ended 31 March 2016

Year ended 31 March 2015

Group Cash Flow Statement

Year ended 31 March 2016

Notes to the condensed set of financial statements

1. General information

While the financial information included in this preliminary announcement has been computed in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) adopted for use by the European Union and with those parts of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies reporting under IFRSs, this announcement does not itself contain sufficient information to comply with IFRSs. The Company will publish full financial statements that comply with IFRSs in June 2016.

The financial information set out above does not constitute the Company's statutory financial statements for the years ended 31 March 2016 or 31 March 2015, but is derived from those financial statements. Statutory financial statements for FY15 prepared under IFRSs have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and those for FY16 will be delivered following the Company's Annual General Meeting. The auditor, Deloitte LLP, has reported on those financial statements; its reports were unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not contain statements under s498 (2) or (3) Companies Act 2006. These financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 24 May 2016.

2. Accounting policies

The same accounting policies, presentation and methods of computation are followed in the condensed set of financial statements as applied in the Group's 31 March 2015 audited financial statements, except as described below.

Adoption of new or revised standards and accounting policies

The following accounting standards have been adopted in the year:

Amendments to IAS19 Defined Benefit Plans: Employee Contributions

Amendments to IAS27 Equity method in Separate Financial Statements

IFRIC21 Levies

Amendments to IAS16 & IAS41 Agriculture: Bearer Plants

Amendments to IAS16 & IAS38 Clarification of Acceptable Methods of Depreciation and Amortisation

Amendments to IFRS11 Accounting for Acquisitions of Interest in Joint Operations

Annual improvements to IFRSs

2012-2014 Cycle

All accounting standards listed above have been adopted but their adoption has not had any material impact on the amounts reported in this condensed set of financial statements.

Standards in issue but not yet effective

At the date of authorisation of these financial statements the following Standards and Interpretations, which have not been applied in these financial statements, were in issue but not yet effective (not all of which have been endorsed by the EU):

IFRS9 Financial Instruments

IFRS14 Regulatory Deferral Accounts

IFRS15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers

IFRS16 Leases

Amendments to IFRS10, IFRS12 Investment Entities - Applying the Consolidation Exception

and IAS28

Amendments to IAS12 Recognition of Deferred Tax Assets for Unrealised Losses

Amendments to IAS1 Disclosure Initiative

Amendments to IAS7 Disclosure Initiative

The implementation of IFRS9 may impact both the measurement and disclosure of financial instruments. The implementation of IFRS15 will have an impact on revenue recognition and related disclosure, and IFRS16 will impact both the measurement and disclosure of leases. Beyond the information above, it is not practicable to provide a reasonable estimate of the effect of IFRS9, IFRS15 and IFRS16 until a detailed review has been completed. The Directors do not expect that the adoption of the other Standards and Interpretations listed above will have a material impact on the financial statements of the Group in the future years.

3. Segmental analysis

IFRS8 requires operating segments to be identified on the basis of internal reports about components of the Group that are regularly reviewed by the chief operating decision maker, who is considered to be the Chief Executive, to allocate resources to the segments and to assess their performance.

All assets and liabilities including inter-segment loans and trading balances are allocated to reportable segments. In order to aid better presentation, such inter-segment items have been eliminated separately in the table above in the current year. In line with this, prior year amounts have therefore been restated.

4. Exceptional items

There were no exceptional items in FY16. In the prior year, exceptional items amounted to a net income of £1.7m, of which £2.9m related to the reimbursement of certain costs by our insurers associated with historical UK matters and £1.7m related to the release of surplus provisions originally created in FY12 and FY14. These were partially offset by the cost of a transaction the Group decided not to pursue.

5. Tax