Given the Group's resilient performance, and the Board's confidence in HomeServe's future growth prospects, the Board is proposing to increase the final dividend to 19.8p per share (FY20: 17.8p) to be paid on 2 August 2021 to shareholders on the register on 2 July 2021.
Together with the interim dividend declared in November 2020 of 6.2p (November 2019: 5.8p), this represents a 10% increase in the total ordinary dividend payment for the year of 26.0p (FY20: 23.6p), which is 1.64x covered by the FY21 adjusted earnings per share (FY20: 1.75x).
Other financial highlights include:
Revenue up 15% to £1.3bn and adjusted PBT up 6% to £191.3m.
Exceptional performance in North American Membership & HVAC, with revenue up 22% to $665.8m, adjusted operating profit up 27% to $137.9m and the new partner pipeline at its strongest ever.
Significant progress in Home Experts, with the division now expected to reach profitability this year
- Checkatrade in the UK saw market-leading gains in consumer demand with a 23% increase in web visits to 29m; 11% increase in paying trades to 44,000
- eLocal in the US delivered adjusted operating profit of $18m, ahead of expectations.
Resilient performance in European Membership & HVAC; good progress in Japan.
Decision to write off UK CRM system at a cost of £84.8m, and move to a more flexible cloud-based solution which has been proven elsewhere in the Group, drove the fall in statutory PBT to £47.2m.
