Had these on my watch list when they were tipped in a newspaper a couple of months ago at about 1.20.

Todays fall looks a bit overdone so I have bought a few at 57p

MoneySupermarket.com Group PLC - Proposed Acquisition of MoneySavingExpert
19 September 2012

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC (the "Company") confirms the satisfactory completion of the UK merger control process in respect of its proposed acquisition of MoneySavingExpert ("Acquisition").

The two principal conditions for completion of the Acquisition have now been met. The Company expects the Acquisition to complete on 21 September 2012."

StockMarketWire.com
Moneysupermarket.com confirms that with effect from 31 December 2012 David Osborne has ceased to be a director of the Company.

StockMarketWire.com
Moneysupermarket said it expects its full-year adjusted revenues to rise 15% to £204.5 million, with adjusted EBITDA up about 26% to £66 million, after a satisfactory fourth quarter.

The results included contributions from MoneySavingExpert.com, which was acquired in September last year. It contributed about £1.8 million to revenues and £2.8 million to adjusted EBITDA.

Of the fourth quarter, Moneysupermarket said revenues were about 18% of the same period in 2011, and excluding MoneySavingExpert.com they were up about 14%.

"Revenue in savings was impacted by lower competition among banks for retail deposits, many of which sought low cost funding from the Bank of England's 'Funding for Lending' scheme rather than from retail deposits," the company said.

"Group EBITDA was more than 30% ahead of the same period last year. Excluding MoneySavingExpert.com, Group adjusted EBITDA rose slightly ahead of revenues," it said.

Moneysupermarket will include about £10.6 million from HMRC in its 2012 accounts. The money was related to HMRC's BAT recovery method.

It has also written down its investment in Financial Services Net Limited, but trading had been impacted by the lower importance of such direct match names in natural search algorithms.

"Consequently the Group will recognise an impairment charge in the region of £4.2m in its financial statements which has not been included in calculating adjusted EBITDA above."

Almost back to a five year high!

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2012

Financial highlights
· Adjusted revenue increased by 15% to £204.8m (2011: £178.5m);

· Adjusted EBITDA increased by 26% to £66.5m (2011: £52.5m);

o Adjusted EBITDA margins increased by 3% to 32%;

· Adjusted gross margin increased to 74.1% (2011: 71.9%);

· Excellent cash conversion - 97% of EBITDA converted to cash;

· Cash balance of £18.7m (2011: £35.0m) at the year-end reflecting the acquisition of MoneySavingExpert.com; the Group is debt free;

· Dividend increased by 27% to 5.74p;
o Final dividend increased 30% to 3.94p per share (2011: 3.03p);

· £10.6m (2011: £nil) net credit in statutory profit following agreement of new VAT recovery method with HMRC;
o Credits of £4.5m and £1.9m recognised for 2012 and 2011 respectively, in lower irrecoverable VAT charge.

Operational highlights
· Market leading position and share maintained in competitive market place;

· Continued structural growth in our online markets and targeted investment in technology and brand building helping to improve conversion rates;

· Marketing investment (offline and online) up 4% with adjusted revenue up 15%;
o Digital investments made benefitting the business.
o New TV campaign launched introducing £1,000 household savings message.

· Acquisition of MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) for up to £92.5m completed on 21 September 2012;
o Initial payment of £65.5m; deferred consideration up to £27.0m;
o Strong trading since acquisition.

Outlook
Group trading including MoneySavingExpert.com has been solid in the first two months of the year. Revenue was up 11% and EBITDA up more than 30% against the same period last year.

Within MoneySupermarket most areas of the business continue to make good progress, with the exception of our Savings channel which continues to be significantly impacted by the Government's Funding For Lending scheme. MoneySupermarket's EBITDA to date is ahead of last year and in line with management's expectations, with margins continuing to be healthy, albeit reflecting a number of investments we are making in the business. MSE trading has broadly reflected that seen within MoneySupermarket.

Despite the slowdown in Savings, the buoyancy of the Group's other revenue streams mean that our expectations for the Group for the year remain unchanged.

StockMarketWire.com
Moneysupermarket.com's first-quarter performance was in line, it said, with revenues and EBITDA up, respectively, 13% and 31%.

The company said trading in the first weeks of the second quarter was in line with the trends seen in the first three months, and that it was confident in its outlook.

"The board's expectations for the year remain unchanged," it said.

Group administrative costs were in line with the run rate in the second half of 2012, whilst distribution costs were broadly in line with the first quarter 2012.

Excluding the contribution from MoneySavingExpert.com Group revenues and EBITDA for the first quarter were 10% and 11% ahead of the same period last year, respectively. Visitors to MoneySupermarket.com were 8% ahead of the same period last year.

Trading in the first weeks of the second quarter has been in line with the trends seen in the first quarter of the year.

The Board remains confident in the outlook and overall the Board's expectations for the year remain unchanged.

StockMarketWire.com
MoneySupermarket.com said group performance remains in line with the boards expectations and that group revenues are up more than 10% year to date.

Having reviewed its performance, MoneySupermarket.com has decided to pay a special interim dividend of 12.92p per ordinary share.

"The special interim dividend is being used to return funds to shareholders and reflects the Board's confidence in the ability of the business to generate cash on an on-going basis," it said

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC [MONY] ex-divi 12th June '13 (12.92 p)

StockMarketWire.com
Moneysupermarket.com said it expects half-year revenues to be in the region of £112 million and adjusted EBITDA to be about £40 million, respectively up 10% and 29% on the prior same period.

"Group trading in the second quarter was slower than the first quarter," the company said.

This was mostly because of a lower rate of growth in the Insurance vertical, arising substantially following changes made by Google to its natural search algorithms, reducing our visitors and revenues from natural search in the month of June in the highly competitive insurance search area.

As has happened in the past, now the algorithm changes have settled down we are working on regaining our positions in natural search in insurance.

The Group's financial position remains strong. As at 30 June 2013 the Group had cash balances of £26m. The Group will make a special dividend payment of £70m to shareholders on 26 July, as previously announced.

StockMarketWire.com
Westhouse Securities has downgraded its recommendation on Moneysupermarket.com (LON:MONY) to "neutral" from "add", post the company's pre-close trading update, seeing the recent share price outperformance as providing investors with an opportunity to take profits. The City broker has left its price target unchanged at 210 pence per share. The broker said: We are pleased to note that MONY's performance for the half year is in line with expectations, believe it will successfully adapt to meet recent Google algorithm changes and expect an update on this front at the interim stage. We are not changing our full-year forecasts ahead of the interims, but see scope for profit taking following recent share price strength (+11% since we moved to Add on 21 June). We are not changing our 210p target price, but we have decided to moderate our recommendation to Neutral following this rise.
Separately, Canaccord Genuity and Investec both reaffirmed "buy" recommendations on the price comparison website operator, leaving their price targets unchanged at 213 pence and 225 pence per share respectively. Meanwhile, Numis reiterated its bearish "sell" call and maintained its 150 pence per share price target. In terms of the wider view, Broker Forecasts consensus data highlights that 70 per cent of brokers rate the shares of Moneysupermarket as a "buy", 20 per cent as a "hold" or "neutral" and 10 per cent as a "sell"

StockMarketWire.com
Moneysupermarket's first-half pretax profit rose to £19.8 million, from £11.6 million. Revenue edged up to £112.3 million, from £102.2 million.

The company, which compares prices, is to pay an interim dividend of 2.16p a share, from 1.8p. It was also issuing a special dividend for the first half of 12.92p.

Looking ahead, Moneysupermarket said revenue in July was flat year on year against a strong July last year when the new advertising campaign was launched.

"This year's new campaign launches in August. The Board remains confident in the long term prospects for the Group underpinned by the continued structural growth opportunities in the price comparison marketplace," the company said.

CEO Peter Plumb described the half-year performance as good.

"The benefits of our increasingly diversified business are evident. We grew our Insurance, Home Services and Travel businesses which more than offset lower demand in our Money business where savings revenues continue to be impacted by the Government's 'Funding for Lending' scheme which is reducing what savers earn on their deposits," Plumb said in a statement.

Canaccord comment:
"While Moneysupermarket has delivered stellar H1 growth, this has been more to do with the MSE acquisition than underlying performance. The good news is that the H2 comparables in Money are much easier, while in Insurance, its website is being reconfigured so that it should move up the natural search rankings. However, challenges remain, not least a sharp YoY decline in motor and home insurance premiums in H1 (which may reduce the savings from switching). And H2 has not started well, with July revenues “flat” year on year. This has been impacted by the later launch of a new TV campaign in August 2013 (vs July in 2012), but we think this puts some pressure on forecasts. We are downgrading our FY13 EBITDA from £83.5m to £79.8m (Bloomberg consensus £81.0m). This drives PBT (norm) down from £75.9m/11.0p to £72.2m/10.4p (subject to tweaking post analysts meeting).

Adjusted for the special dividend, Moneysupermarket shares are up 45% this year, driven by January upgrades and the 12.92p special dividend. The downgrades are clearly disappointing, and on revised numbers, the shares are on a FY13 PER of 20.3x and 14.6x EV/EBITDA. We maintain our 113p TP (13.5x FY14 EV/EBITDA and 3.4% dividend yield) and move from Buy to HOLD."

Just seen these Harry - bounce?@180p

Good luck with that! They are off my radar for the moment until they get their Google/algorithms sorted out. I note Canaccord have a TP of 113p but only say HOLD. I'm not sure if that is a broker note typo error , but maybe they think the divi is worth having even though the sp would drop 35%.

Yes it looks like it :-

Numis Sell 179.80 150.00 150.00 Reiterates

Canaccord Genuity Hold 179.80 213.00 213.00 Downgrades

Investec Buy 179.80 225.00 - Retains

N+1 Singer Buy 179.80 - 212.00 Retains

Ah, thanks. In that case it's now back on my radar! Hmmmm........decisions, decisions.......

I've had a small dabble @179.745

Westhouse Securities Neutral 182.35 183.00 210.00 195.00 Retains.

Help.........What is their problem with Google? Could you please explain?

Glad I stayed out. More by luck than judgement though as was distracted by other stocks!

JRM - As I understand it and to keep it very simple, in the past if you were to enter 'Insurance comparison sites' into the Google search engine, Moneysupermarket would have automatically appeared within the first few entries. This is crucial because most people generally use the first one or two options available on page one. Due to a change in the way Google searches and displays the options, Moneysupermarket slipped down the page and therefore received many fewer hits on it's website. Once MONY realised the problem they then had to modify their website, but this all took time and lost them visitors and revenue.