Switching site faces profit dip

PRICE comparison website Moneysupermarket warned that a lack of “blockbuster” energy deals would hit its full-year profits, sending shares plunging as much as 16pc yesterday.

Fewer people switched providers over the six months to June after the energy companies abandoned trying to entice great swathes of new customers with bargain deals.

This brought revenues in the FTSE 250-listed Moneysupermarket’s home services division – which compares gas and electricity deals – down by a third, and prompted a warning that profits this year would be lower than expected.

Mark Lewis, the firm’s chief executive, who joined the business back in April after three years at retail group John Lewis, said that while insurance switching soared during the period “the en- ergy market continues to evolve”.

“The lack of blockbuster energy deals from providers meant we didn’t collectively switch as many people as last year,” he said, adding that the focus now was on “im- proving our everyday energy switching”. Shares in the company fell as low as 301p, before regaining some ground to end down 9p, or 2.5pc, at 350.4p.