Moneysupermarket off to strong start

Moneysupermarket.com has reported a rise in revenue and profit as it capitalised on its market leading position in the price comparison web site arena.

Revenues rose from £148.9m in 2010 to £181.0m in 2011, while adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) rose 21% from £41m to £49.5m.

Profit before tax more than doubled to £23.3m from £11.0m the year before. Diluted earnings per share - which takes into account changes in the number of shares in issue - rose to 3.2p from 1.5p in 2010.

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The final dividend of 3.03p is a 20% increase on the previous year's final dividend of 2.53p, and takes the full year pay-out to 8.46p, up 121% on 2010's dividend of 3.83p, although the 2011 payment does include a special dividend of 3.93p which was announced at the time of the company's interim results.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Plumb said 2012 is shaping up to be a really tough year for customers but looks like it could be a good one for the company.

So far in 2012, group revenues and EBITDA are in the region of 15% ahead of the same period last year. Trading in the Money and Insurance verticals has continued to be strong but Travel revenues reflect the tough underlying market. Home Services is broadly flat after a strong 2011, the company revealed.

The group plans to accelerate its investment in its technology platform this year. "We are investing more in making Moneysupermarket one of the UK's mainstream household brands, in demonstrating to customers the range of products we offer and the savings they can make, and showing product providers the value of partnering with Moneysupermarket," Plumb said.

The group maintained its proportion of direct to site revenues at 67% in 2011 (2010: 67%) while paid search represented 22% of revenue in the year (2010: 21%). Adjusted administrative and distribution costs increased by 18% from £70.0m to £82.7m. Distribution expenses increased by £8.2m (38%) following higher spend on creative costs and media costs, and sponsorship of Britain's Got Talent.

NR