- Strong demand for insurance products
- Firm estimates households have saved £1.3 billion
- Full year results seen ‘towards top’ of estimates
Price comparison platform Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) lifted its full-year earnings guidance and its interim dividend after first-half results showed more people were shopping around for deals, especially on car, home and travel insurance.
The shares edged higher by 1.8p or 0.6% to 278p taking their gains this year to 80p or 41%.
PULLING IN MORE CUSTOMERS
Thanks to its investment in systems and ways of acquiring new customers over the last couple of years, MoneySuperMarket has become the ‘go-to’ brand with direct-to-site traffic up more than 25% and 11.3 million active users as of the end of June 2023.
Group revenue for the first half was up 11% to £214 million driven by strong growth in car insurance, where income was up 23% as the firm gained share in a growing market thanks to new rules from the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) preventing insurers from ‘price walking’ on renewals.
The travel and travel insurance business also experienced strong growth with revenue up 42% as holidaymakers shopped around for the best deals.
The money business was affected by rising interest rates which made loans and mortgages more expensive, but demand for comparisons on savings and current accounts remained strong, while home services income was flat as fewer people switched broadband deals, although mobile switching remained robust thanks to competitive offers from the network providers.
The firm also said it was ready for the return of energy switching, where historically it has been the leading player in price comparison, although it didn’t expect the market to restart until next year.
POSITIVE OUTLOOK
‘Our purpose is to help everyone save money on their household bills, and this has never been more vital as cost-of-living pressures bite’, commented chief executive Peter Duffy.
Duffy added: ‘The tech behind our trusted brands has been modernised and made increasingly common across the group. The more scaleable it is, the more efficient our business is and the more we can invest in new tools and personalised features that help people save on more of their bills.’
In total, the company estimates it has saved households around £1.3 billion so far this year.
Thanks to its strong first-half performance and growth initiatives, the group now expects its results to be ‘towards the upper end of market expectations’ for the full year.
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