Homeserve surges after restarting sales activity

Shares in repair services firm HomeServe leapt today after it said it had restarted sales activity in a "limited way" following the suspending of its telesales operation 11 days ago.

The firm said it would recommence taking 'inbound' calls from customers to buy its products but has not yet restarted 'outbound' sales calls.

On 31 October the firm said it was temporarily suspending its sales and marketing activity, after a review showed sales processes were not up to standard.

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HomeServe then began a re-training programme for its telephone sales staff and is developing new scripts. "HomeServe has started the process of developing new outbound sales scripts but will only recommence outbound calls when fully confident of meeting the required standards," the firm said.

The company's service to customers making a claim or renewing their policy is unaffected by this decision.

The situation has seen the firm's share price more than halve from 485.3p (Friday 28 October) to just 218.5p as of yesterday's close (9 November). However, today's news has prompted investors to buy back in, with the share up 14.87% to 251p by 10:00.

MM & BC