Homeserve profits to hit top end

26th Mar 2010 07:21

Home maintenance specialist Homeserve's profits this year will come in at the top end of market forecasts after a strong end with high levels of renewals and new policy sales.In the UK, it hit its customer growth target of 3% with gross new policy sales of 1.80m (2009: 1.83m). Renewals levels remained high during the freezing weather in February and into March, with the retention rate for the full year predicted to be 82.5% (2009: 83.0%) and total policies of 7.50m (2009: 7.05m).In the US, Homesrve expects customer growth in excess of 25%, gross new policy sales of 270,000 (2009: 246,000) and total policies of 740,000 (2009: 549,000) for the year. Renewals rose to 82% for the full year versus 80%). "Discussions with a number of utilities are progressing very well as we look to expand the number of partners in the US and our footprint of marketable households," it added.French business, Domeo, has seen customer growth of 13%, while the Spanish business also performed well, the statement said.