Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC Wednesday said its first-half pretax profit increased by a third, boosted by revenue increases across its brands, and a gain on the sale of a stake in HD Decisions Ltd.
In a statement, the price comparison website said it made a GBP26.4 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP19.8 million in the corresponding period a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP122.4 million from GBP112.3 million.
Distribution expenses increased to GBP18.4 million from GBP16.1 million, while administrative expenses rose to GBP52.2 million from GBP50.6 million. The figures include a GBP3.8 million profit on the disposal of the group's 24.25% stake in HD Decisions in May.
"It's been a good first half of 2014, with good revenue growth in our MoneySuperMarket, MoneySavingExpert and TravelSupermarket brands. Group revenue and profits were 9% higher than the first half of 2013," Chief Executive Peter Plumb said in a statement.
"Helping customers with new ways to save money and select the products they need means we have to invest in our business. And that's just what we're doing, spending GBP17 million this year to enhance our site for customers, whether they choose to use mobiles, tablets or desktop PCs to compare prices, features and products."
Moneysupermarket.com said that trading in the first three weeks of July continued the improving trend seen in the second quarter.
"Notwithstanding the strong performance in energy in the second half of 2013, the board's expectations for the full year remain unchanged," the group said in a statement.
Moneysupermarket.com increased its interim divided to 2.31 pence from 2.16p.
Shares were Wednesday quoted up 3.7% at 188.71p.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
