Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC Encouraging trading performance

Mark Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of Moneysupermarket Group, said:

“We grew the business strongly in the first half, already helping households save over £1bn this year, particularly after the energy price cap came in and then went up. Millions of people faced rising energy bills and we helped many of them to find a better deal, saving them hundreds of pounds in just a few minutes on our sites.

“Our Reinvent strategy continues to make it easier and quicker to save and is now supported by the new MoneySuperMarket branding, which encourages people to ‘Get Money Calm’ by using our site to pay less across a broad range of bills.”

• Encouraging trading performance, with revenue growth ahead of the market for the six months.
• Reinvent strategy continues to reaccelerate core growth and unlock new market growth.
• Revenue grew 15% to £199.4m driven by exceptional energy switching, the acquisition of Decision Tech in August 2018 and our ongoing customer experience optimisation.
• Adjusted EBITDA of £72.9m, in line with expectations. This is growth of 15% if 2018 is adjusted for IFRS 16.
• Strong operating cash generation of £51.4m during the period, increasing 20% year on year.
• Interim dividend increased 5% reflecting our progressive dividend policy.

Outlook

The Board is confident of delivering market expectations for the year.*

* Notes: 

As the Group adopted IFRS 16 using the modified retrospective approach, prior year comparative numbers are not restated.  Reported year on year EBITDA growth is higher than would be the case if the comparative numbers were IFRS 16 adjusted. Adjusting for IFRS 16, we expect 2018 adjusted EBITDA to have been £63.3m and adjusted EBITDA growth in 2019 to have been 15%. An indicative guide to the impact of this is included in the relevant areas of this document.

Adjusted EBITDA is operating profit adjusted for depreciation, amortisation and other non-underlying costs (including impairments and strategy related costs) as detailed on page 4. The adjusted results are consistent with how business performance is measured internally.

Adjusted basic earnings per ordinary share is profit before tax adjusted for amortisation of acquisition related intangible assets and other non-underlying costs described in the financial review. A tax rate of 19% (2018: 19%) has been applied to calculate adjusted profit after tax.

Market expectations of Adjusted EBITDA for the 12 months to 31 December 2019 from the analyst consensus on our investor website are in a range of £136.6m to £145.4m, with an average of £141.9m.

Quarter 2 Trading

* Revenue growth 4% Q2 and 8% H1 excluding Decision Tech.

• Good momentum in Insurance and trading in life insurance recovered.
• With fewer strong promotional products, Money switching reduced.
• Energy switching remained very strong due to the combination of attractive offers, the increase in the price cap and the continued optimisation of our site.
• Other revenue includes £5.2m attributable to Decision Tech for the 3 months and £11.4m for the 6 months to 30 June.

Results presentation

There will be a presentation for investors and analysts at Herbert Smith Freehills, Exchange House, Primrose Street, London, EC2A 2EG, at 9.30am this morning. To hear the presentation being streamed live, please visit: http://corporate.moneysupermarket.com to register and listen.