Hi °C | Lo °C PRICE comparison website Moneysupermarket.com softened news of plunging profits by announcing a £25m payout to shareholders.
Pre-tax profits for the six months to June 30 dived to £1.9m from £14.4m a year earlier as the firm continued to suffer from dwindling revenues at its loans and mortgages arm.
However, Moneysupermarket pledged to pay a 4.93p-a-share special dividend in an attempt to underline confidence in its ability to generate cash.
Including an interim dividend of 1.3p a share, the move will land founder and former chief executive Simon Nixon — who owns 53% of the business — a £16.8m windfall.
Nixon, who has a fortune estimated at £140m, stood down from the helm of the business in December last year.
Despite announcing a 31% drop in revenues to £68.5m, Moneysupermarket, which cut more than a quarter of its workforce in a year to take its overall headcount to 476, said trading has stabilised.
