News - Midlands
HomeServe shares plummet after mis-selling inquiry
More than £450m was wiped from Walsall-based Homeserve's value after it suspended telesales activity following an independent inquiry.
At close of play yesterday (31 October), shares had fallen 30 per cent at the FTSE 250-listed company, valuing it at £1.1bn.
The drop came after HomeServe suspended its sales operations following a review by accountant Deloitte.
The review found cases where the sales processes did not meet required standards and Homeserve will now retrain nearly 500 call centre staff. The company said that marketing calls will start again today, but it will not be making any business-generated calls for "five or six weeks".
For the year ending 31 March 2011, Homeserve reported profits of £119.2m, up 14 per cent from 2010.