Record North American performance drives full year growth for HomeServe

Domestic repair and maintenance group, HomeServe has seen a strong year, driven by a record performance from its North American division.

The Walsall-based company saw statutory operating profit increase by 20% to £104.7m in the full year to March 31, 2017.

Adjusted operating profit was up 22% to £118.8m, which the group said was a reflection of its strong underlying performance. Dividend was up 20% to 15.3p.

In the UK, the group said it had had a solid year, with customer numbers rising to 2.2m, an increase of 1%.

In North America, the performance was underpinned by a record number of new sign-ups, extending the group’s cover to 50m households.

Adjusted operating profit for the division was up 75% to £21.2m.

In France and Spain, customer numbers were up 4% and 7% respectively, while its Italian business agreed a joint venture with Edison Energia, a major utility in Italy.

The period also saw the company invest in new acquisitions, Checkatrade and Habitissimo.

Richard Harpin, chief executive, HomeServe, said: “It has been a very good year for HomeServe with all of our businesses performing well. In North America we had a transformational year, achieving the 3m customer milestone and signing 100 new partners.

“The acquisition of Utility Service Partners (USP) has accelerated our progress in this large and important market.

“The investments we have made in Checkatrade and Habitissimo are a major step forward and position HomeServe at the fore of the online revolution we are seeing in home services. We are focused on developing an online platform to connect a wider customer demographic to a broader range of expert tradespeople – ‘Home Experts’.

He said that with these opportunities, and the positive outlook for the rest of the business, HomeServe had an exciting future for the current year and beyond.

The group has also announced the appointment of three new directors.

Tom Rusin, CEO of HomeServe USA and currently a member of the HomeServe executive committee, has been appointed as an executive director, while Katrina Cliffe and Edward Fitzmaurice have both been appointed as non-executive directors, with the former also joining the audit and risk committee.

Ms Cliffe has spent her career in retail financial services, credit cards, customer service and marketing.  Most recently she was general manager at American Express Global Business Travel, EMEA, having previously been general manager, global corporate payments, UK.

Mr Fitzmaurice joined Hastings Insurance Group in 2008 as CEO and was part of the MBO team of the business in 2009.  He served as the non-executive chairman of Hastings Insurance Services until October 2015 and was a NED on the Hastings board until March 2017.

Prior to joining Hastings he spent three years at HomeServe as chief executive of its Warranties division.

Commenting on the appointments, Barry Gibson, chairman, HomeServe, said: “I am delighted to welcome Tom, Katrina and Edward to the board. HomeServe is becoming a bigger and broader-based business and these appointments expand and strengthen the executive and non-executive presence around the board table.

“Tom’s appointment reflects the increasing significance of North America to the group.  Katrina and Edward both bring a wealth of experience in financial services and their extensive commercial experience will be of great benefit as we continue to develop and expand the business.”

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