Moneysupermarket.com cuts jobs as sales continue to slide
PRICE comparison website Moneysupermarket has cut 80 staff as it grapples with falling revenues.
The redundancies follow a review of the business led by management keen to trim costs. It said the move, which reduces staff numbers to 470, should save £2.3m a year.
In a trading statement ahead of today’s AGM the group said visitor numbers increased by 6% during the first quarter but the business witnessed a continuing fall in sales as consumers reign in spending and steer clear of credit products such as loans and mortgages.
Moneysupermarket, based in Ewloe near Chester, allows customers to search for products such as credit cards, savings accounts, holidays and gas and electricity deals online and earns money from the providers if a customer clicks on one of their products. If the customer then proceeds to transact, Moneysupermarket receives a further fee.
During the first quarter the business said like-for-like revenue in its money division was down by more than 50%. Its home services arm, which handles utilities, was also down by around 50% while its travel and insurance businesses dipped by 10%.
It said there has been less interest in short breaks but demand for package holidays remains strong with revenue up on last year.
Chief executive Peter Plumb said: “Trading levels appear to have stabilised over the course of quarter one. As promised at the time of the preliminary results we have taken action to reconfigure our cost base for the lower levels of both demand and supply arising from the current recession.
“We have also made good progress over a relatively short period of time with our marketing plans and these should deliver benefits in the second half of the year.”
In the year to December 31 Moneysupermarket increased revenue by 10% to £178.8m but it made a post-tax loss of £59.1m after an impairment charge of £70m. This compared with a £9.4m profit last time.
