Chester-based price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com said on Thursday its revenue fell 8% to £316.7 million and profit before tax fell about 20% to £70.2 million in the year to December 31, 2021, with its home services business “heavily impacted by wholesale energy prices.”
The company said high wholesale energy prices meant there were no switchable energy tariffs available from October and it had no energy revenue in the fourth quarter.
Nonetheless, full-year dividend was maintained at 11.71p “reflecting good cash conversion and confidence in growth prospects.”
On its recent performance and outlook, Moneysupermarket said: “Wholesale energy prices remain too high to return attractive switching tariffs to the market, despite the increase in the energy price cap.
“We remain confident that the energy switching market will return strongly in the medium term but assume no energy revenue in 2022.
“We nonetheless expect 2022 adjusted EBITDA to increase to around 2020 levels.
“Provider strategies are still evolving following the implementation of the FCA General Insurance pricing regulations in January.
“Car insurance premiums have started to increase, with more significant rises in home insurance premiums.
“There is some evidence that year-on-year search trends have recently improved.
“Money remains in strong year-on-year growth.
“Search trends indicate only a partial return of the traditional January peak.
“Travel performance in January was encouraging, with TravelSupermarket at c.35% of 2019 revenue.”
Moneysupermarket Group CEO Peter Duffy said: “In a tough year for some of our markets, we delivered well against our strategy.
“Our work to attract customers more efficiently led to margin improvements, and our transition to a leading, flexible tech and data platform is on track.
“We’re building a more dynamic and efficient organisation, with better pace of delivery.
“We’ve added new brands, welcoming colleagues from CYTI, Icelolly.com and Quidco.
“The addition of cashback aligns well with our purpose of helping households save money and brings new opportunities.
“Building on this foundational progress, our focus now turns to product innovation and today I’m pleased to announce the upcoming launch of MSE car insurance.
“We are well placed for further recovery in our end markets and future growth.”