Gocompare profit edges up as marketing margin rises

In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit was up 1.7% to £14.7m as the marketing margin increased to 39.6% from 34.5%, with revenue of £75.8m, up from £72.8m in the first half of the previous year. Meanwhile, adjusted operating profit came in at £17.5m from £14.4m and the group announced a maiden interim dividend of 0.7p per share.

Average revenue per interaction was up 2.8% to £4.43 and customer interactions rose 1.3% to 17.1m.

In addition, the company said total marketing spend in the first half fell by £1.9m from the same period a year ago, largely due to lower distribution costs and in particular lower broadcast spend on TV and other media.

Chief executive Matthew Crumack said: "We have delivered material improvements to our core business following organisational and operational transformations early in the year and I am particularly pleased with the integration and performance of our existing talent, alongside new talent recruited in Newport.

"As well as progressing the core business we have continued to develop our strategy and our investment in Mortgage Gym is an exciting opportunity to work with an innovative business that is well aligned to our mission of helping people everywhere save time and money."

At 1105 BST, the shares were up 0.8% to 114.12p.