HomeServe sees further strong growth this year

Operating profit for the six months to the end of September rose 12% to £27.5m. In parallel, revenue increased 16% to £366m helped by more customers in all established regions and increased spending per customer.

First-half performance was driven by North America where revenue rose to £118m from £86m and the business notched up operating profit of £8m from a £4m loss a year earlier.

HomeServe said: "HomeServe made good progress in the first half of the financial year and remains on track to deliver further strong growth in FY18."

The company's shares rose 3.6% to 837.5p at 10:01 GMT.

HomeServe fixes heating, plumbing and electrical problems at its customers' homes and is expanding its digital capabilities into other areas of household maintenance. It has 7.8m customers in the UK, North America, France, Spain and Italy.

The company said it had paid £54m to buy the 60% it did not own of Checkatrade, a UK website that households use to find electricians and plumbers. It bought 40% of the business in February.

Richard Harpin, HomeServe's chief executive and founder, said buying Checkatrade took the company closer to becoming a global online "home experts" platform. It also owns a majority stake in Habitissimo, a Spanish site for reviewing tradespeople.

Harpin said: "I am delighted with the progress we made across our business in the first six months of this financial year. North America delivered outstanding organic growth. In our core home assistance business and with an even bigger opportunity in home experts, the prospects for growth at HomeServe have never been so strong."