MONY Group holds on to guidance despite record first half

(Sharecast News) - Moneysupermarket.com operator MONY Group hailed its best-ever results for a first half, as revenues hit a quarter of a billion pounds on the back of a strong performance in the insurance and cashback categories. The company, which formally changed its name from Moneysupermarket.com to MONY Group in May, said it still expects to meet market expectations for the full year, as insurance operations should return to "more normalised levels" as results begin to lap the strong growth seen in 2023, while no material revenue from energy switching is expected.

Revenues were up 5% year-on-year in the six months to 30 June at £223.5m, with insurance - its biggest division - growing sales by 14% to £119.9m, offsetting falling revenues in the money and home services categories.

First-half EBITDA improved 8% to £73m, while adjusted basic earnings per share rose 6% to 8.8p. Meanwhile, net debt more than halved to £25.1m from £54.4m and operating cash flow jumped 26% to £51.8m.

"Ours is a business that only makes money if customers save money and in the first half of 2024, we saved customers £1.7bn," said chief executive Peter Duffy.

"By offering easier ways to save through SuperSaveClub, the MoneySavingExpert App and Quidco, customers will increasingly come to us direct and more frequently too."

The company surpassed 500,000 members in its SuperSaveClub, up from just 300,000 in April, helped by the company growing the number of products available in the club from six at the beginning of the year to 10 at the end of June.

"Early data shows that more Club members are coming to us directly, with members 20% more likely to come direct for their second purchase than traditional MSM users," the company said.

The stock was down nearly 2% at 223.18p in early deals on Monday.