£165m windfall for Moneysupermarket’s Nixon
SIMON Nixon, the founder of price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com, looks set to add £165m to his fortune by selling a major stake in the business.
His decision to sell came as Moneysupermarket committed £70m to a special dividend of 12.9p a share.
In a stock market statement, investment bank Credit Suisse said Mr Nixon planned to sell 80 million shares, or 14.8% of the company.
Moneysupermarket.com, based at Ewloe near Chester, has a market value of £1.1bn and its shares closed at 207.7p yesterday.
Credit Suisse said the move will allow Mr Nixon to diversify his personal holdings and is in line with his move from executive deputy chairman to non-exec deputy chairman in April. It will be his first substantial share disposal since it floated in 2007.
Mr Nixon became a self-employed mortgage consultant in 1989 and started his own trade publication which compared mortgages. He launched Moneysupermarket in 1999 and the business floated at 170p a share, valuing the group at £840m. At the time Mr Nixon took the opportunity to cash around £100m.
The company said the special dividend was being made to return funds to shareholders and reflected the board’s confidence in the ability of the business to generate cash on an on-going basis. It is being funded out of cash balances and a bank facility.
Chairman Gerald Corbett said: “The board remains committed to a progressive dividend policy in line with the investment and capital needs of the business.
“The placing by Simon Nixon will increase liquidity and help normalise the company’s shareholding structure. Simon remains a major shareholder and will continue to play a key role on the board as the non-executive deputy chairman.”
In a trading update the business said performance remained in line with the board’s expectations and revenues for the year to date are more than 10% up on the same period last year.
