Strong demand across the price-comparison websites owned by Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) boosted operating profit by 18 per cent to about £24m last half. It also invested almost £8m in improving its website experience, enhancing data storage and upgrading its aggregation engine, which gathers and displays prices and other details from the likes of banks, insurers and energy suppliers.
TravelSupermarket.com and MoneySavingExpert.com were the standout performers, with sales up 35 and 28 per cent, respectively, to £12.4m and £11.3m. But its more established money, insurance and home services segments didn't falter either, growing sales by 6, 4 and 38 per cent, respectively.
The outperformance in home services - which lets users compare prices for services such as utilities and mobile phones - reflects price hikes among energy providers last year that encouraged consumers to switch suppliers. It was also lifted by traffic from MoneySavingExpert's Cheap Energy Club, which alerts consumers when they can save a predetermined amount on their current tariff.
Fewer people visited Moneysupermarket's money and insurance websites, so growth there may come as a surprise. But "the better we get at marketing, the fewer visitors we'll have," says chief executive Peter Plumb, explaining that the decline may reflect better targeting of users and a higher conversion rate of visitors into buyers.
Broker Canaccord Genuity expects cash profits of £89m, giving EPS of 11.7p, rising to £94.1m and 12.6p in 2015 (from £84m and 10.8p in 2013).
| MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 187p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.0bn | |
| TOUCH: | 187-189p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 214p | LOW: 142p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD#: | 4.0% | PE RATIO: | 25 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 23p* | NET DEBT: | 17% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 112 | 19.8 | 2.8 | 2.16 |
| 2014 | 122 | 26.4 | 3.9 | 2.31 |
| % change | +9 | +33 | +39 | +7 |
Ex-div: 13 Aug Payment: 12 Sep *Includes intangible assets of £168m, or 31p a share #Excludes special dividend of 12.92p paid in July 2013 | ||||
