Moneysupermarket hit by £240m share price crash

IF THE eye-popping Moneysupermarket TV adverts have not grabbed your attention, the disastrous performance of its shares might.

A warning from the comparison site yesterday that it would grow more slowly than its rivals this year wiped more than £242m off its value.

The firm, which achieved notoriety in 2016 for controversial adverts featuring hotpants- clad builders, reported revenue growth of 4pc to £329.7m for the year ending December 31. Profits rose 4pc to £94.9m. It also announced plans to spend £11m-£14m boosting the size of its Manchester engineering hub and its technology.

Chief executive Mark Lewis, parachuted in from John Lewis last year, said: ‘We are committed to leading the way in price comparison to make saving with us easier, quicker and simpler.’

Broker Peel Hunt said the fall in the share price could be a bargain for new investors.

In a note, the broker said: ‘We expect the share price will fall first thing but a convincing explanation for the need for additional IT investment and confidence in the resultant growth path may lead to any price fall being seen as an opportunity for investors.’

Shares tanked 13.7pc, or 45.2p, to 283.6p.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 stumbled 0.40pc, or 29.18 points lower, to 7252.39, dragged down by a disappointing day for industrials, financial firms and tech stocks.

A drastically reduced price forecast left investors in Cineworld, the world’s second largest cinema operator, reeling.

Berenberg, the German bank, slashed its target price for the 226- strong cinema chain from 700p to 300p amid stiff competition from streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon.

That might seem as though Berenberg has little faith in its future prospects – but in fact the opposite is true. Berenberg believes Cineworld’s soon- to- be- completed deal to buy its larger US rival, Regal, could spur growth.

As part of the takeover, Cineworld plans to refurbish 50 of Regal’s 550 US sites that are in need of being spruced up.

Berenberg believes this could boost the number of admissions in the US and, therefore, profits. In a note to investors, it said: ‘As market concerns subside, we believe Cineworld should re-rate and we reiterate our “Buy” rating.’ Shares slid 2.9pc, or 7p, to 233.8p.

Ongoing difficulties in Malaysia are putting a dent in online gambling firm Playtech’s bottom line.

Its average daily revenue for the first 51 days of the year was down 11pc on the year before.

A major reason for this is the trouble it has trading in Malaysia, which has cracked down on gambling sites and mobile apps. Playtech issued a profit warning in November because of this.

In its results for the year to December 31, Playtech said it would try to raise revenues in Europe and Latin America to compensate. Shares fell 2.9pc, or 22.6p, to 751.8p.

Photography and broadcast equipment maker Vitec Group bumped up after a 12pc increase in profits. It manufactures and distributes camera stands, batteries, video transmission equipment and autocues for TV shows.

Chief executive Stephen Bird said: ‘Vitec has a strong position in exciting and fast changing markets.’ Shares rose 2.8pc, or 30p, to 1100p yesterday. Investors were unmoved by Easyhotel’s £50m fundraising drive. The firm issued 45.5m new shares at 110p each to buy 1,122 new hotel rooms in popular tourist cities across the UK and Europe.

But that was not enough to shift its share price, which ended the day as it started, on 114.5p.