Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC Q3 Trading Statement (4984P)

TIDMMONY

RNS Number : 4984P

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC

19 October 2021

19 October 2021

Q3 2021 update

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC reports trading results for the quarter ended 30 September 2021

 
                   Revenue for the 3 months     Revenue for the 9 months 
                    ended 30 September 2021      ended 30 September 2021 
                      GBPm          Growth %        GBPm         Growth % 
 Insurance            41.3              (10)       121.8             (10) 
 Money                19.7                58        55.0               12 
 Home Services        13.9              (46)        59.3             (25) 
 Travel                1.5                29         2.5             (55) 
                 ---------                    ---------- 
 Total                76.4              (10)       238.6             (11) 
                 ---------                    ---------- 
 

Travel includes trading from TravelSupermarket for the quarter and GBP0.1m of revenue for Icelolly.com from 1 September 2021, when the acquisition completed. Decision Tech is now reported within Home Services (with prior year comparables similarly restated).

Unprecedented energy market conditions impact revenue

-- In Insurance, competition for visitors intensified while car and home insurance markets softened. We continued to optimise our customer acquisition, resulting in a higher gross margin rate year on year in our main insurance channels. Travel insurance returned to almost half of 2019 (pre-COVID) revenue for the quarter.

-- In Money, borrowing conversion continued to improve and banking benefitted from further promotional deals. Overall Money revenue for the quarter was close to 2019 levels.

-- In July and August, wholesale energy prices continued to rise steeply, keeping customer savings at unattractively low (and often negative) levels. The further substantial increases in wholesale prices from mid-September led to providers removing tariffs from the market, and negligible energy switching.

-- We saw some recovery in Travel, weighted towards the end of the quarter. In September, TravelSupermarket revenue was at c.30% of 2019 levels.

We have continued to deliver on our strategy to efficiently attract, retain and grow our customer relationships, building a flexible platform to support our brand portfolio. This has enabled us, despite the energy market conditions, to deliver a slightly higher quantum of gross profit than in Q3 2020.

Acquisition of Quidco

Today we have announced the acquisition of Quidco (see separate RNS). We will hold a Q&A session today at 9.00am with Peter Duffy (CEO) and Scilla Grimble (CFO) that can be accessed via https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/dmo9mrkz.

Outlook

Across the business, we expect to see continued strong gross margin performance and therefore anticipate full-year EBITDA in line with current market expectations. We do not anticipate energy market conditions will improve this year and therefore expect that switching will be negligible in Q4 (energy accounted for 16% of Group revenue in Q4 2020).

Peter Duffy, CEO of Moneysupermarket Group, said:

"We have continued to make improvements in our business, building towards a leading data, marketing and technology platform. We maintained our strong margin performance and good cash conversion despite the very tough energy market. We are encouraged by the performance of Money and the early signs of Travel recovery following changes to travel restrictions."

Notes: Adjusted EBITDA is operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and impairment and adjusted for other non-underlying costs. Market expectations of adjusted EBITDA for 2021 from the analyst consensus on our investor website are in a range of GBP93.1m to GBP99.9m, with an average of GBP96.5m.

For further information, contact:

   Scilla Grimble, Chief Financial Officer     [e-mail] / 0203 826 4667 
   Ian Gibson, Strategy & IR Director          [e-mail]   / 07974 197742 
   William Clutterbuck, Maitland AMO         [e-mail] / 0207 379 5151 

This statement may include statements that are forward looking in nature. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Group to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Except as required by the Listing Rules and applicable law, the Group undertakes no obligation to update, revise or change any forward-looking statements to reflect events or developments occurring after the date such statements are published. The information in this release is based on management information.

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October 19, 2021 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)