Homeserve : Interim Management Statement

HomeServe plc

Interim Management Statement

HomeServe plc, the international home emergency business, today publishes its Interim Management Statement for the period 1 April to 18 July 2014.  This statement coincides with the company's Annual General Meeting which takes place today.

The business is trading in line with our expectations.  The UK business has made solid progress in the first three months of the current financial year, with a continued strong retention rate.  Our International businesses continue to deliver growth in customer numbers and secure affinity partnerships. 

Trading, as usual, will be weighted towards the second half of the financial year, reflecting the seasonality of our marketing activity and associated renewals profile. 

UK

We are on track to achieve our target of 0.3m gross new customers during FY2015 and expect our customer numbers to be at at least 2m during the year with a retention rate of around 82%.  We are making progress across all of our marketing channels and will, in line with prior years, undertake the majority of marketing activity in the second half of the year.  

International Businesses

Our established International businesses continue to grow their customer numbers and are performing as expected.

In the USA, we continue to achieve good customer growth and retention remains strong.  We have continued to see momentum in the development of our prospects pipeline and have signed two new affinity partnerships with water municipalities that provide water services to 0.2m households.  As outlined previously, we are increasing the size of our business development team and now have 17 people, which compares to nine people a year ago.

In France, we have maintained a high retention rate of 89% and continue discussions with potential new affinity partners.

In Spain, as we expected, customer and policy numbers are continuing to grow strongly, principally as a result of our relationship with Endesa.  In Italy, customer numbers increased in the first quarter and we continue to conduct test activity in Germany.

Financial Position

Our financial position remains strong with net debt at 30 June 2014 of £48m, compared to £42m at 31 March 2014. 

Enquiries

HomeServe plc

Richard Harpin, Group Chief Executive

Johnathan Ford, Chief Financial Officer

Linda Hardy, Investor Relations Director            Tel: 01922 427 997

Tulchan Group

Christian Cowley                                                     Tel: 0207 353 4200

Martin Robinson