Homeserve keeps outlook unchanged

11th Feb 2011 07:14

Emergency repair service provider Homeserve is still predicting a year of strong growth with profit matching City expectations.Customer and policy numbers were both 14% higher at the end of 2010 than at the same time the previous year, up to 4.8m and 10.9m respectively."All of our businesses are currently in their key period for marketing activity and customer renewals, and we are pleased to report that both new customer acquisition and retention rates are performing in line with our expectations," Homeserve said Friday.The outlook for the year remains unchanged. Analysts are looking for a profit before tax and exceptional items of between £112m and £117.7m. The average is £116.2m. In the UK, the business is on track to hit its full year 3-4% customer growth target after increasing numbers by more than 2% as at 31 December 2010. Plumbing & drains and water supply pipe policies were up.Britain's coldest December ever resulted in slightly higher gross new policy sales, but any additional revenue is not material and is broadly offset by higher direct costs in the claim and repair networks."We continue to expect the underlying UK operating margin for the current financial year to be broadly similar to the same period last year," said the company. Over in the US, customer growth stood at an impressive 50% and policies leapt 75%, and the integration of the National Grid business has gone well and is performing in line with plans. The first marketing campaign to Southern California Gas' households is being launched this month. Results for the 12 months ended 31 March 2011 are out on 24 May.