Financial Services Net bought by Moneysupermarket
Moneysupermarket.com, the internet comparison site operator, has acquired Midlands-based rival Financial Services Net. Moneysupermarket, which is based in Flintshire, will pay an initial £4.6m, rising to up to £9m depending on performance, for the Coventry-based operator of Financialservices.co.uk. Moneysupermarket said the acquisition would provide “a platform for the group to broaden its brand offering to a wider range of customer segments in the money and insurance (divisions)”.
Financial Services Net (FSN) was controlled by the Panesar family and others. The purchase will incur expenses of about £600,000 for Moneysupermarket this year.
Moneysupermarket said trading in the first few weeks of the fourth quarter had been strong, with revenues remaining more than 10 per cent ahead of the same period last year. Earnings before adjustments rose 16 per cent from the same period last year, while visitor numbers were “broadly flat”.
Moneysupermarket chief executive Peter Plumb said: “Moneysupermarket.com has continued to make good progress in the second half of the year. Revenues in the third quarter were up more than 10 per cent, with the insurance and money verticals benefiting from the site developments made earlier in the year coupled with our Haggle Hero campaign.
“The acquisition of FSN will enable us to further expand our brand offering to new customer segments in the money and insurance business.”
He added that the group’s travel business would be relaunched in the first quarter of 2011.
Revenues in the money division were 19 per cent ahead of the third quarter of 2009 on visitor volumes that were approximately 10 per cent lower. Credit card revenueswere particularly strong, driven by improving product availability from providers and the launch of the new credit card site during the earlier part of the year. Lower visitor numbers followed the company’s step away from partner relationships which were unprofitable, and reflect low levels of consumer confidence.
Insurance revenues were 13 per cent ahead of the third quarter of 2009 and visitor volumes were 8 per cent ahead of the same period last year.
Revenues in the travel vertical were 6 per cent down on visitor volumes that fell by a similar proportion. Home Services revenues were 9 per cent down but visitor volumes increased by 24 per cent.
