Homeserve Makes Investments in Checkatrade and Habitissimo

• HomeServe accelerates the development of its digital presence by acquiring shareholdings in Checkatrade and Habitissimo, established market leaders in home repairs and improvements
• Expands our offering beyond home emergencies to help consumers looking for a single online source to solve home emergencies, repairs and improvements
• Entering the home repairs and improvements market via these acquisitions expands our addressable market to a broader customer demographic and provides an immediate increased range of trades
• Further opportunity to develop scalable platforms with significant potential for future growth internationally

HomeServe plc, the international home repair and improvements business, today announces that it has acquired shareholdings in Checkatrade in the UK and Habitissimo in Spain, two separate market leading businesses that provide access to high quality tradespeople performing home repairs and improvements via online platforms.

These two investments are in line with HomeServe's strategy to develop its digital presence, extending the range of trades offered and broadening its demographic appeal through online platforms that provide customers with Certified Home Experts whenever they need them.

Checkatrade, based in Selsey, is the UK's most recognised and trusted online directory of high quality, customer recommended tradespeople with nearly 1m unique customer visits a month, resulting in approximately 1.3m jobs per annum.  HomeServe has acquired a 40 per cent interest in the business with an option to increase its position by a further 35 per cent in two years.

Habitissimo is an international online business that provides support for home improvements and repairs, connecting homeowners to trusted local tradespeople.  Based in Mallorca (Spain), Habitissimo receives over 3.6 million unique customer visits a month, resulting in approximately 0.25m jobs per annum across nine countries in Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy and France) and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia).  HomeServe has acquired a 70 per cent interest in the business with an option to increase its position by a further 30 per cent in either four or five years' time.

Checkatrade and Habitissimo have access to around 24,000 and 21,000 tradespeople respectively, which combined with HomeServe's existing networks, will give HomeServe access to over 50,000 Certified Home Experts across a range of over  20 trades.

Both businesses have proven the success of their business models and the existing management teams will remain with the businesses, continuing to lead their development as part of HomeServe.

The combined consideration for these two acquisitions was £37m and was financed through existing cash resources.

Richard Harpin, Chief Executive, HomeServe plc, commented:

"Our investments in Checkatrade and Habitissimo underline HomeServe's ambition to be at the forefront of the technological revolution as the world's most trusted provider of home repairs and improvements.  Both of these businesses provide innovative digital platforms, connecting customers to reliable tradespeople.  With leading positions in the home repair and improvements market, these businesses will broaden HomeServe's reach enabling us to meet the needs of younger, non-insurance minded customers who are looking to find immediate help from a wide range of home trades.

Together, these investments open up exciting new possibilities to help our customers in their homes as we continue to develop our online capabilities and digital platform solutions."

HomeServe is trading in line with management's expectations and expects to deliver good growth in the year ending 31 March 2017.  The next scheduled trading update is 6 April 2017.