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GoCompare thrives after turning down ZPG takeover
Price comparison website operator GoCompare.com Group reported a 19.8% increase in adjusted operating profit to £36m over the previous year on Wednesday, with revenues also up.
The Welsh services comparison outfit's revenues grew 5.1% to £149.2m in 2017 and profits were boosted as the company cut administrative expenses by 16% to £27.4m and saw its marketing margin rise to 40.5% from 38.3% the previous year. Profits after tax surged 54% to £24.4m.
Costs fell even though the company increased its number of employed engineers from 21 to 40 and plans to utilise the expansion through "innovation of customer journeys".
MyVoucherCodes was acquired in January for a cash consideration of £36.5m and will allow GoCompare to increase the number of customers it communicates with and the frequency of those communications. Aside from this acquisition, the company also made minority investments in start-up companies Mortgage Gym, a mortgage robo-adviser, and Souqalmal, a Dubai based comparison business.
GoCompare, which last year rejected a £460m bid from Zoopla and uSwitch owner ZPG, reported a final dividend of 1.4p per share, and management remain confident of meeting its expectations for the full year 2018, with performance being skewed towards the second half of the year.
Peter Wood, chairman of GoCompare, said: "Strong financial performance was complemented by careful deployment of capital that saw the Group take minority stakes in two start-up companies, and culminated in the acquisition of another money-saving business, MyVoucherCodes. As we enter 2018, our focus will remain on delivering value for our shareholders."
Matthew Crummack, chief executive of GoCompare, said: "Building the strengths of our technology team enabled us to deliver more frequent and effective product enhancements, resulting in a marked improvement in both customer and partner experience."
As of 1028 GMT, GoCompare.com's shares were down 1.23% at 112.60p.