Shropshire Star

Revenue tops £1bn for growing HomeServe

Annual revenue topped £1 billion for Walsall-based HomeServe in the year to the end of March.

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HomeServe founder Richjard Harpin

It was up 12 per cent from £899.7 million in the previous financial year with pre-tax profit rising by 13 per cent from £123.3m to £139.5m.

The total number of customers for the home repairs group remained stable at 8.4 million.

HomeServe said there had been strong results across the group with North America now its largest business with adjusted operating profit in North America up 37 per cent to US $88.1m. France and Spain both delivered good growth in adjusted operating profit, up six per cent and five per cent respectively.

Richard Harpin, founder and chief executive of HomeServe, said: "HomeServe delivered another very good year with further profit growth across the group. North America was once again the outstanding performer and our progress there continues at pace. Allied to good performances in the UK, France and Spain, our membership business is strong and I remain excited about its prospects.

"Checkatrade is already making great strides to strengthen its position as the UK market leader and offer an even better trade and consumer experience. In home experts we have a business line with huge potential. The progress we have made this year has confirmed that we are developing a winning model and gives us the confidence to increase our annual investment.

"Our mission is to make home repairs and improvements easy for both homeowners and trades and I remain as passionate as ever about our efforts to provide great service to achieve this."

HomeServe expects to deliver further strong growth in the current financial year with increased investment in home experts expected to be offset by strong performance in mMembership, particularly North America.

The group, which has its head office at Cable Drive, is seeing growth through new partners, products and channels and the increasing use of data and technology is transforming its customer service.

In North America it is signing new partners at the rate of three a week.

The 2018-2019 financial year also saw the establishment of a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan.

The year was also the fist year of full ownership of Checkatrade, its UK home experts business. Over the last 12 months the number of trade members has grown by 23 per cent to 36,000 and consumer web visits are up by 11 per cent to 18million a year.