moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
moneysupermarketcom group plc   annual report 2008
moneysupermarketcom group plc – telephone 01244 665700 – web wwwmoneysupermarketcom
registered in england no 6160943 registered office moneysupermarket house st david’s park ewloe chester ch5 3uz declaration date of 2008 final dividend   25 february 2009
announcement of 2008 full year results   25 february 2009
exdividend date of 2008 final dividend   25 march 2009
record date of 2008 final dividend   27 march 2009
annual general meeting   16 april 2009
interim management statement     16 april 2009
payment date of 2008 final dividend   1 may 2009
half year end         30 june 2009
announcement of 2009 half year results   july 2009
full year end     31 december 2009
announcement of 2009 full year results     february 2010
 exact dates to be confirmed
further copies of this annual report are available from the company’s registered office or may be accessed through the group’s  
website wwwmoneysupermarketcom 
forward looking statements
this annual report includes statements that are forward looking in nature forward looking statements involve known and unknown  
risks assumptions uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results performance or achievements of the group to 
be materially different from any future results performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements 
except as required by the listing rules and applicable law the company undertakes no obligation to update revise or change any 
forward looking statements to reflect events or developments occurring after the date of this annual report 
general
financial calendar
the group exists to help customers save time and money 
product providers offer customers a wide range of insurance 
money travel and home services products to choose from as 
the uk’s leading price comparison website the group provides 
customers with a free online service to compare products and to 
find the one most suited to their needs
the group provides its price comparison services to customers 
via two market leading brands moneysupermarketcom and 
travelsupermarketcom
business overview
02 highlights
04 our model
06 insurance
08 money 
1 0 travel 
12 home services 
business review
14 chairman’s statement
16 chief executive’s reports
22 financial and business review
32 principal risks and  
uncertainties
management
34 board of directors and  
company secretary
corporate responsibility
36 corporate responsibility  
report
corporate governance
37 directors’ report
42 corporate governance report
46 audit committee report
47 nomination committee report
48 directors’ remuneration report
53 independent auditor’s report
financial statements
54 group financial statements
58 notes to the group financial 
statements
75 company financial statements
76 notes to the company 
financial statements
general
80 shareholder information
81 financial calendar
our business
contents 01 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008 02 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business overview
highlights
revenues increased by 10 from £1629m to £1788m
adjusted ebitda
2
 of £484m
operating loss of £545m after goodwill impairment of £700m
final dividend of 22p per ordinary share
total dividend for the year of 35p per ordinary share
operating cash conversion of 85
cash balances of £735m at 31 december 2008
our financial highlights
1
1 the financial highlights relate to the adjusted income statement covering the years 
ended 31 december 2008 and 31 december 2007 assuming a debt free acquisition of 
moneysupermarketcom financial group limited by moneysupermarketcom group 
plc on 1 january 2006 from which date intangible amortisation commenced and a 
share option charge which reflects the average charge over the vesting period of 
currently unexercised options further information on the adjusted income statement 
is set out in the financial and business review on page 22
2 adjusted ebitda is calculated by the directors by making certain adjustments to the 
historical compensation levels of the directors and senior managers and share 
based bonus awards to employees on the listing of moneysupermarketcom group 
plc these adjustments reflect the directors’ and senior managers’ profit share 
discretionary bonus and related employer’s national insurance contributions they 
also include charges relating to the issue of free shares to each eligible employee to 
the value of £3000 charges relating to the conditional share award made to gerald 
corbett on listing and charges related to share based compensation relating to 
options issued prior to listing following listing these elements of compensation no 
longer apply at these levels charges relating to the impairment of goodwill in 2008 
have also been added back to calculate adjusted ebitda for further information  
see page 22 03 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
visitors
3
 to the group’s website increased by  
32 to 1201m
transactions on the group’s website increased by  
23 to 714m
online brand recognition increased to 80 in  
september 2008 from 73 in november 2007
continued diversification across the group as the insurance 
travel and home services verticals continue to grow 
3  as noted in the prospectus issued in connection with the listing of 
moneysupermarketcom group plc on 31 july 2007 the group’s visitor numbers 
during the period between january and may 2007 were understated due to certain 
visitors not being assigned a unique global user id the issue was resolved in may 
2007 and has not impacted visitor numbers in the insurance vertical after may 2007 
the group has not been able to quantify the exact extent of the understatement
 the group recorded a substantial increase in its reported visitors from 27 april 2008 
to the end of june 2008 following a release made in respect of the antivirus 
software avg in assessing whether a webpage was safe it ‘followed’ every link or 
url displayed on an email or webpage to the destination website this meant that 
many web based businesses including the group recorded visitors from users of the 
avg software who themselves did not technically visit the website the 2008 visitor 
count has been adjusted for the estimated impact of this avg released a further 
update to its antivirus software in early july 2008
visitors 2008
1201m up 32
2007
910m
revenue 2008
£1788m up 10
2007
£1629m
our operational highlights 04 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business overview
our model
for customers
the group attracts customers to its website in a number  
of ways including television and radio advertising editorial 
comment in the press and on television programmes and 
from search engines such as google where the group 
purchases sponsored listings for relevant keywords and 
focuses on enhancing the ranking of the group’s website  
in the natural results listings
the group provides customers with a free online service 
enabling them to compare a wide range of products in the 
insurance money travel and home services markets and  
to find the product most suited to their needs the group’s 
website enables customers to compare products by price 
product features and service 
in addition to these comparison services the group helps 
and supports customers to research the product they wish 
to purchase this includes news articles guides video 
blogs web chats and the ability to ask the views either 
directly of our employees or other customers in our forums 
the group also sends weekly rate alert and fare alert 
emails to customers enabling them to keep up to date  
with the latest deals offers and best buys on a wide  
range of products
the group invests significantly in innovation and product 
development to ensure that the customer experience is 
continually enhanced customers benefit from enhanced 
website functionality improvements in existing products  
and the addition of new products and features  05 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
for product providers
our price comparison 
services offer a 
compelling proposition 
to both customers 
and product providers
the group provides product providers access to 
significant volumes of informed customers who having 
compared the market are ready to make a purchase  
this improves the focus and efficiency of their marketing 
spend and means the group provides product providers 
with a cost effective distribution channel
the significant investment by the group in innovation  
and product development benefits product providers by 
delivering to them customers who are more likely to 
purchase their products
the group is remunerated by product providers either  
on a cost per click model when a customer clicks 
through from the group’s website to a product provider’s 
website or on a cost per action model when a customer 
completes an application for a product or purchases a 
product from the product provider or a combination of 
the two models 06 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business overview
insurance
customer case study
pam cowenwright lives near  
mold in north wales and runs  
her own recruitment business  
she recently saved £105 on the 
insurance for her land rover 
discovery by using 
moneysupermarketcom
pam 36 said “i use 
moneysupermarketcom for  
everything as it’s so easy  
to use but most recently i used  
it for my car insurance we always 
shop around when our insurance 
policies are up for renewal and this 
time i managed to save £105 by 
using moneysupermarketcom 
you can save so much money with 
comparison sites and in today’s 
climate i think it’s more important 
than ever to be prudent and see 
where you can save money” 
£105 
saved on car insurance
the insurance vertical 
offers customers the 
opportunity to search for 
and compare insurance 
products in 15 channels 
including
car insurance •	
buildings and contents insurance •	
travel insurance •	
life insurance •	
the group continued to focus during the year on product 
development to ensure the customer experience was 
enhanced this included
policy wizard •	 – the group launched a tool in the 
motor insurance channel enabling customers to make 
changes to their policy details for example the level of 
policy excess and compare the impact of this on the 
premium of multiple providers in real time this 
significantly improves the usability of the motor 
insurance channel for customers
new question set •	 – the group revised the  
questions it asks customers during the year in its  
motor insurance and home insurance channels  
this enables quote results to be more tailored to 
customers’ personal circumstances
home insurance instant email •	 – the group 
launched a new facility in the home insurance channel 
to email customers a results table which is valid for  
30 days this enables customers to return to the 
results table in a single click rather than having to 
complete a new quote improving the usability of  
this channel for customers
comparison facility •	 – the group launched a new 
comparison facility in the motor insurance and home 
insurance channels this enables customers to 
compare the policy details of up to five products  
side by side helping customers to compare  
different product features and to find the product  
most suited to their needs  07 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
revenue
£777m 2007  £564m
visitors 
248m 2007 207m 08 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business overview
money
customer case study
jim and dorothy ogden rely on  
their savings to supplement their 
retirement income it is therefore 
important that they earn as high a 
return as possible on their money  
so they use moneysupermarketcom 
to keep an eye on savings rates
jim a 79year old retired civil 
engineer said “i’ve got a final salary 
pension but it hasn’t kept up with rises 
in the cost of living so we have to rely 
on our savings as well the interest  
we earn on our savings used to be 
enough to supplement our pension 
but it’s gone down so much recently 
that it’s getting harder and harder  
to get by without having to dip into  
our capital 
we therefore need to keep an eye  
on savings rates to make sure we’re 
getting the best rate possible 
moneysupermarketcom makes this 
easy as we can view all the leading 
rates and see how they compare with 
our existing accounts if any of our 
accounts have lost their competitive 
edge we move our money to a  
better deal”
the money vertical offers 
customers the opportunity 
to search for and compare 
financial products in 14 
channels including
mortgages •	
loans •	
credit cards •	
savings •	
current accounts •	
throughout 2008 the group implemented a number  
of product developments to enhance the customer 
experience within the money vertical these included
customer reviews •	 – the group introduced customer 
reviews allowing customers to view feedback from 
other customers on different products as part of  
the redevelopment of the credit cards loans and 
savings channels
new features •	 – the group focused on improving the 
usability of the key money channels this included the 
introduction of features that allow customers to tailor 
their searches to suit their individual needs
decision support •	 – the group identified different 
customer needs through customer research this 
resulted in the development of a new support area 
within certain key money channels which provides 
money saving advice help and support and the  
option to receive a weekly rate alert email
customer journey •	 – the group improved the 
customer journey within the money channels in  
2008 including reductions in the number of steps 
customers are required to take in order to compare 
products thereby enabling the customer to save  
more time 09 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
revenue
£683m 2007  £760m
visitors
351m 2007 27 7m 10 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business overview
travel
customer case study
al prior 47 is a consultant for an 
engineering software company he 
travels to europe on business regularly 
and uses travelsupermarketcom to 
find flight and hotel deals 
al said “i use travelsupermarketcom 
a lot for business travel as i fly to 
europe once every month or so 
because i have to be there at specific 
times for meetings it’s not only price 
that i’m comparing i also need to 
know that i can get there at the right 
time and travelsupermarketcom is 
great because i can see everything – 
flight times and cost – in one go rather 
than having to go to all the websites of 
airlines individually 
as well as flight searches i also use 
the hotels channel regularly i tend to 
stay in the same type of hotel so if i’m 
going to a new place i look for certain 
chains to see if they have a hotel that 
is conveniently located”
the travel vertical offers 
customers the opportunity 
to search for and compare 
travel products in 9 
channels including
flights •	
package holidays •	
car hire •	
hotels •	
during 2008 the group continued to focus on innovation 
resulting in a number of enhancements over the course  
of the year each aimed at improving the customer 
experience these included
website redesign •	 – the group commenced  
a major project to refresh the look and feel of 
travelsupermarketcom to make it more inspirational 
and to really excite customers about the prospect of 
travelling and holidaying this was initially released to 
customers as an alternative or ‘beta’ version and will 
be fully live during 2009
trip advisor •	 – the group worked closely with  
expedia to integrate their customer reviews and  
ratings into the hotels channel enabling customers  
to check the suitability of their hotel choice before 
booking it
virtual earth •	 – the group worked closely with 
microsoft to bring maps and geo coding to the hotels 
channel this allows customers to view their hotel 
choice on an interactive map in conjunction with other 
useful information such as the location of museums 
attractions and public transport
brochure details •	 – the group integrated brochure 
information into the holidays channel allowing 
customers the opportunity to see a range of details 
about the holiday they are considering including 
photos amenities and tour operator reviews 11 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
revenue
£191m 2007 £150m  
visitors  
489m 2007 37 0m 12 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business overview
home services
customer case study
hayley mendis is a waitress in a busy 
trafford centre restaurant the 26 year 
old lives in a nearby manchester suburb 
with her partner and baby daughter 
tamsin and likes to return to a warm 
house after her shift
hayley said “three months after i 
moved into my house i got a big 
electricity bill in the mail and an even 
bigger gas bill i was so shocked at the 
size of them that i took my bills to the 
library and searched on 
moneysupermarketcom for the best  
gas and electricity prices
i signed up with npower which was the 
best value of all for my circumstances 
instead of paying £120 per quarter for 
electricity plus £140 per quarter for gas 
i’m now paying a total of £60 per month 
on direct debit which will save me £320 
this year
and if prices start falling i’ll go to the 
library again and apply on 
moneysupermarketcom for a new 
cheaper deal”
£320 
saving on utility bills
the home services vertical  
offers customers the  
opportunity to search for  
and compare home services 
products in the following  
4 channels
utilities •	
mobile phones •	
shopping •	
broadband •	
during the course of the year the group implemented a 
number of product developments to the home services 
vertical aimed at enabling customers to find the product 
most suited to their needs these included
shopping channel •	 – the group launched its own 
shopping channel in september 2008 replacing  
a previous third party provided solution this new 
channel provides further opportunities for customers  
to compare prices on a wide range of products 
including games consoles tvs and computers 
and to find the product most suited to their needs
broadband speed test •	 – the group launched a  
free speed test service to customers in the broadband 
channel allowing customers to measure the download 
and upload speeds they receive from their current 
broadband provider this enables customers to  
check they are receiving the service they expect  
from their broadband provider
mobile recycling •	 – the group launched a new  
service in the mobile phone channel enabling 
customers to recycle their old mobile to earn money 
and help the environment 13 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
revenue
£74m 2007 £45m
visitors 
112m 2007 57m 14 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review
chairman’s statement
our second year as a public company has been 
characterised by change both within and outside the group 
the credit crunch or liquidity crisis in the banking 
system spread and deepened during the year we saw 
the failure of a number of banks whilst others both in the 
uk and overseas required rescue packages from 
governments and central banks 
against this economic backdrop and the deteriorating 
market conditions in the second half of the year the 
group recorded revenue growth of 10 to £1788m for 
the year ending 31 december 2008 underpinned by 
strong visitor growth in the year of 32 to 1201m 
visitors these solid figures are in spite of a significant 
decline in revenue from the money vertical in the second 
half of the year due entirely to the credit crunch
the diversity of our business has proved to be and  
will continue to be an important strength with the  
growth in the insurance travel and home services 
verticals helping to offset declines experienced in  
the money vertical 
the worsening economic conditions and the turmoil in 
the credit and wider financial markets have resulted in  
the group recording an impairment charge of £700m 
against goodwill in 2008 the group is therefore reporting 
a statutory loss after tax of £591m for the year
however we remain strongly cash generative and ended 
2008 with a balance sheet containing no debt and a 
cash balance which increased during the year by £195m 
to £735m despite a 9 decline in adjusted ebitda to 
£484m this is a creditable set of results given the 
challenging market conditions experienced during  
the year
in august 2008 we announced that we would implement 
an enhanced dividend policy paying approximately one 
half of adjusted net profits as dividends each year in 
october 2008 we paid our maiden interim dividend of 
13p per ordinary share
in line with this revised dividend policy the board 
recommends a final dividend of 22p per ordinary  
share to be paid on 1 may 2009 if approved by 
shareholders this will make a full year dividend of  
35p per ordinary share
in last years’ statement i referred to the importance  
of improving our management process and upgrading 
the quality of our management team the group has 
grown rapidly in the last nine years but is now of a size 
and complexity that requires a different management 
approach to that when the group was in its 
entrepreneurial ‘supergrowth’ phase this is particularly 
so given the challenges of the credit crunch and the 
consumer recession
in december we announced that the group’s founder 
simon nixon had decided to step down from his role  
as chief executive officer on 25 february 2009 simon 
became executive deputy chairman on that date in  
his new role simon will focus on strategic innovation  
and development
it is a tribute to simon’s vision and commitment that  
the group has developed into the business it is today  
on behalf of the board and shareholders i would like to 
thank simon for the immense contribution he has made 
to the development of the group and look forward to 
working with him in his new role 
in december we announced that peter plumb who 
joined the group earlier in the year would join the  
board as an executive director with effect from 
1 january 2009 and replace simon as chief executive 
officer on 25 february 2009 peter is a tried and tested 
general manager in international marketingintensive 
businesses and brings with him a wide mix of skills and 
experience he was previously uk managing director of 
dunnhumby limited the customer insights business and 
prior to that held senior positions with disney dyson and 
pepsico the board is confident that peter will steer the 
executive management team through the challenging 
market environment
the group has further strengthened the board with  
the appointment of graham donoghue the managing 
director of travel and david osborne the marketing 
director as executive directors with effect from  
23 february 2009 graham joined the group in july 2008 
from tui travel plc where he was new media director and 
david joined the group in february 2009 from easyjet 
where he was uk regional general manager
these changes will help take the group to the next  
stage of its development as we concentrate not only on 
growing the group but also running the business that we 
have better like many uk consumer facing companies 
the immediate outlook is not good we cannot assume 
that the effects of the credit crunch will suddenly lift  
and our business return to the levels of 2007 all of  
our verticals have begun the year down on the same 
period last year and are suffering from the effects of  
the recession 
in the short term we must reconfigure ourselves for lower 
levels of demand we are helped by the fact that most of 
our profit converts to cash we have no debt and £735m 
of cash balances at the end of 2008 our task is to 
improve what we have so we are well positioned when 
our markets eventually recover which they will 
in these challenging times our results demonstrate the 
robust and diversified nature of our business these 
results are to the credit of our employees and on behalf 
of the board i would like to thank them for their hard work 
and commitment during the year i would also like to 
thank my colleagues on the board for their contributions 
during the course of the year the group remains well 
placed despite the current market conditions and this 
gives us all confidence for the future
gerald corbett 15 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
gerald corbett
full year dividend  
35p per ordinary share 16 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review 
chief executive’s report
in the year ended 31 december 2008 the group has 
performed well despite the challenging trading conditions 
that have been driven by the tightening credit markets 
and downturn in the economy group revenue has 
increased year on year by 10 from £1629m to  
£1788m and the insurance travel and home services 
verticals have all continued to grow helping to 
compensate for the decline seen in the money vertical 
adjusted ebitda declined in the year by 9 to £484m 
principally due to further investment in the group’s online 
offering and the increased customer acquisition costs in 
the insurance vertical the group remained strongly cash 
generative and ended 2008 with no debt and the cash 
balance increasing during the year by £195m to £735m 
we believe this demonstrates the resilience of our 
diversified business model in these difficult economic 
times 
insurance is now the largest vertical in the group 
accounting for 43 of group revenue revenue  
grew in the year by 38 to £777m 2007 £564m  
albeit at a slowing rate as the year went on this was 
driven both by improved commercial arrangements 
with providers and increased visitor numbers that were 
20 higher than in 2007 we maintained a strong market 
position in a sector which continued to show growth 
during the year despite the increasing level of competition 
from other online aggregators who spent significantly on 
television advertising and bid aggressively on search 
engines we believe we still have the most complete 
insurance comparison engine in the uk offering our 
customers the widest choice of providers together with a 
very strong brand 
during the course of 2008 and in particular in the second 
half of the year the money vertical felt the impact of the 
deepening global banking crisis revenue in the year 
declined by 10 to £683m 2007 £760m as credit 
markets continued to tighten with the uk consumer 
seeking to reduce debt and providers continuing to 
tighten their lending criteria revenue declines were most 
notable in the loans and mortgages channels visitors to 
the money vertical were however 27 higher in 2008 
than in 2007 demonstrating the value of the website to 
our customers particularly in times of uncertainty
the impact of the credit crunch and the worsening 
economic conditions were particularly felt in the secured 
loans market which contracted substantially in july 
barclays took the decision to close its subsidiary first 
plus to new business with effect from august first plus 
had provided the group with an exclusive market leading 
product and represented approximately 10 of group 
revenue at the time it closed to new business although 
the group was able to replace some of the revenue lost 
following the withdrawal by barclays the continued 
tightening of the supply of available credit throughout the 
year meant that revenue from secured lending in the 
second half of the year was significantly lower than the 
first half
savings showed the strongest growth in the money 
vertical with revenue increasing by approximately 80  
in the year as customers sought to spread their cash 
balances across a number of accounts to take advantage 
of the protection afforded by the financial services 
authority compensation scheme and to find the best 
returns as interest rates fell
the travel vertical performed well with revenue increasing 
in the year by 27 to £191m 2007 £150m growth 
slowed over the second half of the year as customers 
sought to reduce discretionary expenditure revenue 
growth was driven by increased visitors to the vertical 
which were 32 higher in 2008 than in 2007 
the home services vertical delivered a strong 
performance in 2008 with revenue increasing 63 in  
the year to £74m 2007 £45m for a large part of the 
year utility prices were increasing prompting customers 
to shop around for the best available deal the home 
services vertical is now well established and experienced 
visitor growth in the year of 97
in september 2008 the group launched its own shopping 
channel whilst the group has had a shopping channel 
on the website for some time this was previously 
provided by a third party this limited the group’s ability 
to drive visitors to its website from search engines and 
therefore our ability to grow this channel the group now 
has its own product which gives an additional 75000 
pages to be indexed by search engines enabling results 
from our shopping channel to appear in the natural 
listings on search engines increasing revenue
mortgage 2000 the group’s offline business which 
specialises in supporting mortgage intermediaries 
continued to decline throughout the year reflecting  
the declining mortgage market the group is currently 
reviewing its options for this business
the group’s strategy in 2008
despite the current challenging economic conditions  
the group remains well placed to respond to the 
continuing structural shift in consumers’ and providers’ 
behaviour as consumers spend increasing amounts of 
time online and their confidence in and familiarity with 
transacting over the internet increases
we believe the group provides the largest and most 
effective price comparison marketplace in the uk 
matching providers with customers who having 
compared the market are ready to make a purchase  
thereby improving the focus and efficiency of providers’ 
marketing spend 17 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
simon nixon
revenue
£1788m 2007 £1629m
increased by 10 18 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review
chief executive’s report continued
the group’s strategy to capitalise on this structural shift 
has focused on three main areas in the last financial year
customer focus
the group is committed to saving its customers time and 
money this sits at the heart of the group and its 
innovation and product development each new website 
development new tool or new product that the group 
launches is intended to save its customers time and 
money support the customer in his or her purchasing 
decision or enhance the customer experience
this constant focus on placing the customer first helps 
ensure that the group remains at the front of customers’ 
minds and is central to how the group is run
innovation and product development
the group has continued to invest in innovation and 
product development in 2008 and will continue to do so 
customers see the benefits of this innovation in enhanced 
website functionality improvements in existing products 
and the addition of new products and features this focus 
on innovation and product development ensures that the 
customer experience is continually enhanced and the 
group remains their first choice for price comparison in 
the uk by enhancing the customer experience and 
providing support to customers in their purchasing 
decision providers benefit from increased conversion 
rates and a more efficient marketing spend
examples of new products and services introduced in 
2008 include
the launch of a ‘policy wizard’ tool in motor insurance •	
which enables customers to find the policy that exactly 
meets their needs and see prices update in real time 
this significantly improves the usability of the motor 
insurance channel and will improve providers’ 
conversion rates
the look and feel of the travel website was refreshed •	
to make it more inspirational to really excite customers 
about the prospect of travelling or holidaying and to 
make it more intuitive to use this was initially released 
to customers as an alternative or ‘beta’ version and 
will be fully live during 2009
the group integrated hotel reviews from trip advisor •	
and added far more photos videos and content into 
its travel website
the group launched a new credit cards channel  •	
and enhanced the loans and savings channels  
both of which now include expert video and  
user reviews all substantially improving the  
customer experience
the group extended the question set within its  •	
motor and home insurance channels to enable 
customers to obtain a more tailored quote for  
their personal circumstances
in september 2008 the group launched its own •	
shopping channel this channel is already performing 
well and the group is planning to further improve its 
functionality to make it a market leading proposition
brand awareness
marketing and pr drive new customers to the group’s 
website and ensure that the group remains at the front of 
customers’ minds the group has continued to invest 
heavily in its brand as part of a highly focused marketing 
strategy this has helped the group to increase the 
number of visitors attracted to its website by 32 to 
1201m 2007 910m and has helped to ensure the 
group remains the uk’s leading price comparison 
website the success of this strategy is reflected in  
the increased online brand recognition of 
moneysupermarketcom to 80 in september 2008  
from 73 in november 2007 
the group continues to supply best buy tables to the 
personal finance sections of a number of national 
newspapers including the telegraph the times and  
the independent and in 2008 spent £190m on television 
advertising 2007 £170m with increased competition 
from other online aggregators most notably in motor 
insurance the group’s brand remains one of its most 
important and valuable assets
simon nixon 19 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008 20 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review
chief executive’s report continued
before i outline the group’s strategy in 2009 i would  
like to thank simon for his help and support during my 
transition to chief executive officer i very much look 
forward to working with him in his new role where he will 
continue to drive product development and innovation 
across the group 
the group’s strategy in 2009
simon’s chief executive report described the group’s 
strategy during 2008 and in particular the focus on 
customers innovation and product development and 
brand awareness 
these cornerstones of the group’s strategy in 2008 
which have served the group well in its development  
and growth to date will continue to form a major part of 
the plans for 2009 however the unprecedented global 
financial crisis and the subsequent uk recession means 
the group faces a very different marketplace to that 
which it has encountered in the past 
our immediate task is to reconfigure our business for  
the lower levels of demand we are seeing due to the 
recession and to concentrate on managing our existing 
business better 2009 will be a difficult year and we 
cannot assume 2010 will be any easier more so now than 
ever the group must remain flexible and responsive to 
the changing market conditions and changing customer 
needs
accordingly the group’s priorities for 2009 will focus on 
the following areas each of which interacts with the other 
as part of an overall strategy
marketing 
moneysupermarketcom and travelsupermarketcom are 
both market leading brands with online brand recognition 
at their highest ever levels as a result of the major 
marketing and pr investment by the group over the past 
three years in 2009 the group will continue to invest 
significantly in its brands and will focus on building more 
innovative and effective communication with its 
customers making the marketing investment and the 
group’s brands work harder will be a major challenge  
for the business this year as we seek to optimise our 
marketing spend
innovation and product development
continued innovation and product development remain 
key to the group’s strategy in spite of the downturn 
customers are already benefiting from a more 
personalised search capability across the website in the 
form of customer reviews richer content and smart 
search tools and wizards such innovations not only save 
customers money but also time 
the group will continue to focus in 2009 on innovation 
and product development with the aim of saving 
customers more time and money the group will also 
invest in developing its existing systems both to simplify 
the customer proposition and to make more of what the 
group already has 
the group will further look at and test innovative new 
opportunities to utilise and leverage its core price 
comparison competencies in markets different to  
those in which the group currently operates 
insight led
the group will focus in 2009 on using its data better and 
developing tools and capabilities from which it can drive 
decision making in a challenging market it is essential 
that as an online business the group uses every piece of 
information effectively
as the group becomes more analytical in its approach 
the insight and knowledge it gathers about its business 
customers and providers will enable the group to 
optimise its decision making and to monitor its 
performance against its goals this will ensure the  
group is able to manage its business better in the  
short medium and long term
customer focus
saving customers time and money remains at the very 
heart of the group’s philosophy and the group will 
continue to focus on this during 2009 and beyond  
the group has started to build a single base of customer 
knowledge and as a business recognises the need to  
be much more inquisitive about customer behaviours and 
attitudes so that the group can respond to them with 
better service and more tailored products 
as the uk continues in recession and customers need  
to find more ways to save money the group’s focus on 
customers will be more important than ever
outlook in 2009
the short term outlook is not good revenue to date this 
year is significantly down on last year entirely due to the 
recession we will manage ourselves accordingly
however the group has many important strengths 
including a diversified business market leading brands 
high brand recognition with customers and a motivated 
workforce i am confident that the successful execution of 
the group’s strategy in 2009 will position the business for 
long term sustainable growth
peter plumb 21 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
21 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
peter plumb  22 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review
financial and business review
moneysupermarketcom group plc the ‘company’ was formed as a new holding company on 14 march 2007 
and it acquired moneysupermarketcom financial group limited and its subsidiaries together the ‘group’ on  
22 june 2007 accordingly the group is presenting group results for the year ended 31 december 2008 and the 
period ended 31 december 2007 these have been presented on pages 54 to 74 revenue in 2008 was  
£1788m 2007 £883m and after an impairment charge of £700m generated a net loss after tax of £591m 
2007 profit £94m
the group is also presenting below an adjusted income statement for the years ended 31 december 2008  
and 31 december 2007 to show what the financial results would have been had the company acquired 
moneysupermarketcom financial group limited on 1 january 2006 the directors believe that this will allow 
users of the financial information to gain a better understanding of the underlying performance of the business 
this is consistent with the presentation made last year the adjusted income statement forms the basis of the 
commentary contained in the financial and business review presented below unless otherwise stated
adjusted income statement
for the year ended 31 december 2008
   actual proforma 
   2008  2007 
   £000  £000
revenue   178800 162882
internet   172532 152220
intermediary   6268 10662
cost of sales   62064 54268
gross profit   116736 108614
distribution expenses   21618 19640
administrative expenses – excluding directors’ and    
senior managers’ profit share and discretionary bonuses  
and share based compensation   75310 62837
administrative expenses – directors’ and senior managers’   
profit share and discretionary bonuses   – 4967
administrative expenses – share based compensation   4325 4433
administrative expenses – impairment of goodwill   70000 –
administrative expenses   149635 72237
lossprofit from operating activities   54517 16737
adjusted ebitda  
lossprofit from operating activities   54517 16737
directors’ and senior managers’ profit share and discretionary bonuses   – 4967
share based compensation   4163 4433
amortisation of intangible assets   25200 25200
impairment of goodwill   70000 –
depreciation   3543 1612
adjusted ebitda   48389 52949
adjusted earnings per ordinary share  
– basic   69p 75p
– diluted   68p 73p
  23 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
notes
basis of preparation
the adjusted results show the trading results of the group for the years ended 31 december 2008 and  
31 december 2007 adjusted for the following assumptions
the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited by the company occurred debt free  •	
on 1 january 2006
the charge for share options is the average expected charge over the vesting period of options still to be •	
exercised following the listing of the company on 31 july 2007
adjusted basic and diluted earnings per ordinary share figures which have been included are based on an 
adjusted net profit figure assuming that the number of ordinary shares and options in issue at 31 december 2007 
had been in issue since 1 january 2007 options and shares issued since 28 december 2007 have been included 
in the adjusted diluted earnings per share calculation on a pro rata basis the adjusted earnings per share 
calculations assume a 30 tax rate for 2007 and a 285 rate for 2008
the directors regard an adjusted ebitda figure as being the most meaningful profit measure for this period  
the following adjustments have been made to the adjusted income statement
the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited by the company gave rise to £2072m of •	
intangible assets these are to be written off over a period of 310 years with a charge of £252m per annum to 
be recorded in each of the first three years this has been shown within administrative expenses as a charge of 
£252m in the 2008 and 2007 adjusted income statement
with effect from the listing of the company on 31 july 2007 directors’ and senior managers’ compensation •	
was revised and the individuals entered into new service agreements directors’ and certain senior managers’ 
profit share discretionary bonus and employer’s national insurance contributions have been added back in 
calculating adjusted ebitda in 2007 to reflect the fact that following the listing on 31 july 2007 these elements 
of compensation no longer apply to these individuals no adjustments are required for the year ended 31 
december 2008
share option charges relating to options granted to directors senior managers’ and other employees of  •	
the group before the listing of the company on 31 july 2007 have been added back to calculate adjusted 
ebitda prior to the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited by the company 
moneysupermarketcom financial group limited issued share options to employees on terms that will not be 
offered moving forwards on listing the company also issued ‘free’ shares to the value of £3000 as a ‘bonus’ 
to each eligible employee as part of its share incentive plan scheme on listing the company also entered into 
an agreement with gerald corbett under which gerald corbett purchased 117647 ordinary shares in the 
company and provided he completes three years service as chairman of the company from listing and  
he retains the ordinary shares he purchased he will be entitled to subscribe at nominal value for 235294 
ordinary shares in the company 
the company made conditional share awards under the terms of the company’s long term incentive plan on •	
28 december 2007 and on 4 march 2008
the group has performed an impairment review during the year resulting in an impairment charge against •	
goodwill of £700m which has been added back to calculate adjusted ebitda further details of the calculation 
performed are provided on pages 67 and 68 24 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review 
financial and business review continued
revenue 2008
£1788m up 10
gross profit 2008
£1167m up 7
2007
£1629m
2008
£1788m
2008
£1167m
2007
£1086m
overview of financial performance
revenue grew by 10 to £1788m 2007 £1629m and adjusted ebitda fell by 9 to £484m 2007 £529m 
the internet business generated £1725m of revenue representing an increase of 13 on 2007 revenue growth 
was impacted by the credit crunch which reduced the supply of credit to the market in general and reduced 
revenue year on year in the money vertical revenue in all of the other internet verticals grew compared with last 
year the intermediary business generated £63m of revenue representing a decrease of 41 on 2007 the 
intermediary business also suffered as a result of lower lending volumes in the uk mortgage market the group  
is currently considering a number of options in respect of the intermediary business
gross margins fell slightly compared with last year from 67 to 65 gross margins benefited from a favourable 
sales mix as the lower margin intermediary business contributed 3 of group revenue in 2008 compared to 7 
in 2007 the group was able to maintain its directtosite revenue as a proportion of total revenue over the period 
during the third quarter customer acquisition costs increased substantially in the insurance vertical which reduced 
gross margins overall however these returned to more normal levels in the fourth quarter
the adjusted cost base before depreciation increased by 23 from £557m to £684m distribution costs which 
consist primarily of tv advertising increased by 10 on last year to £216m although the group advertised 
across all of its verticals more of the spend was targeted at insurance this being both the most competitive 
market segment and the fastest growing in absolute terms 
the group has further strengthened its online brand recognition which increased to 80 in 2008 as measured by 
a yougov survey regularly commissioned by the group
adjusted administrative expenses increased by 34 over the period total adjusted staff costs increased by £76m 
to £304m in 2008 the group reduced its permanent headcount over the period and particularly the second half 
of the year from 647 to 555 reflecting declining revenue in the money vertical and a downsizing of the workforce in 
the intermediary business the group invested approximately £33m in third party resource in the money vertical 
to transfer its technology from asp to aspnet to ensure its core technology remained current and ‘supported’ by 
microsoft and to improve the look feel and functionality of a number of the key channels this work was 
completed in the fourth quarter of 2008
other administrative costs including irrecoverable vat increased by £30m accentuated by a change in sales mix 
towards sales which were exempt from vat notably insurance together with the introduction of a second data 
centre to provide business continuity management capability in the first quarter of 2008
the group reshaped its operations in germany and invested £22m in 2008 against £07m in 2007 launching 
operations in the money vertical in january 2009 through the website wwwmarktvergleichde
adjusted ebitda margins fell from 32 in 2007 to 27 in 2008   25 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
visitors 2008
1201m up 32
transactions 2008
714m up 23
2007
910m
2008
1201m
2007
582m
2008
714m
the group operates two different business segments in the uk internet and intermediary the internet business 
operates across four vertical markets these are discussed below
  revenue
  31 december 2008 
i
 31 december 2007
 £000  £000 
money
1
 68265 38 75996 46
insurance
1
 77739 44 56436 35
travel 19089 11 15004 9
home services 7416 4 4540 3
other – uk 23 0 87 0
total internet uk 172532 97 152063 93
germany – 0 157 0
total internet 172532 97 152220 93
intermediary 6268 3 10662 7
total 178800 100 162882 100
1  during 2008 the group undertook an exercise based on additional information made available to it to reallocate impressionbased advertising 
revenue between the money and insurance verticals in 2007 consistent with the results presented for the year ended 2008 as a result of this 
exercise £20m previously shown in the money vertical in other revenue has been reallocated and recorded in other revenue in the insurance 
vertical in respect of the year ended 31 december 2007
 
internet business
the uk internet business accounted for 97 of group revenue in the year ended 31 december 2008 the 
directors use key performance indicators ‘kpis’ to assess the performance of the internet business against the 
group’s strategy these are reviewed on a regular basis the principal kpis for the internet business are as follows
visitors
the group measures the number of visitors to its website as the number of unique visitors per day per channel 
measured on a cumulative basis using cookiebased tracking methodologies
transactions
the group measures transactions at the point in time that the customer leaves the group’s website having clicked 
through to a third party website or in some cases having completed an application form hosted on the group’s 
website
revenue per visitor ‘rpv’
the group measures the total revenue including click and other internet revenue divided by the number of visitors 
defined above
revenue per transaction ‘rpt’
the group measures the click based revenue divided by the total number of transactions defined above 26 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review 
financial and business review continued
the relative performance of each of the internet verticals is discussed below
money
the money vertical currently offers customers the ability to search for and compare products for amongst other 
things business finance credit cards current accounts mortgages loans debt solutions and savings accounts it 
also includes elements of the group’s lead business paa and advisory business mcat together with advertising 
revenue that derives from financial products
the kpis for the money vertical are shown below 
  31 december 31 december 
  2008 2007 change
visitors 000
1
  35131 27676 27
transactions 000  15003 12557 19
revenue £000 – click based revenue  57372 60779 –6
revenue £000 – other
2
  10893 15217 –28
revenue £000 – total  68265 75996 –10
rpv  £194 £275 
rpt  £382 £484 
1  the group recorded a substantial increase in its reported visitors from 27 april 2008 to the end of june 2008 following a release made in respect 
of the antivirus software avg in assessing whether a webpage was safe it ‘followed’ every link or url displayed on an email or webpage to the 
destination website this meant that many web based businesses including the group recorded visitors from users of the avg software who 
themselves did not technically visit the website the 2008 visitor count has been adjusted for the estimated impact of this avg released a further 
update to its antivirus software in early july 2008
2  during 2008 the group undertook an exercise based on additional information made available to it to reallocate impressionbased advertising 
revenue between the money and insurance verticals in 2007 consistent with the results presented for the year ended 2008 as a result of this 
exercise £20m previously shown in the money vertical in other revenue has been reallocated and recorded in other revenue in the insurance 
vertical in respect of the year ended 31 december 2007
total revenue in the money vertical decreased by 10 from £760m to £683m and click based revenue  
by 6 from £608m to £574m visitor growth of 27 has been offset by a decline in rpv of 29 in the year  
the group noted during the year and in particular the second half of the year that lenders significantly tightened 
their lending criteria indeed a number of providers withdrew from the market completely as the credit crunch 
began to deepen reducing the supply of available credit this impacted all of the credit based channels but most 
markedly the secured loans channel which also suffered as home equity declined with the falling housing market 
first plus a subsidiary of barclays which was the group’s largest single provider by revenue in 2007 closed to 
new business in august 2008 first plus represented approximately 10 of group revenue at the time it closed  
to new business 
revenue generated from savings grew significantly year on year as customers sought both to maximise their 
returns on investments and reduce exposure to individual banks amidst the uncertainty that arose following the 
collapse of a number of financial institutions the overall impact of the change in sales mix away from debt 
products towards savings products together with the reduced availability of credit was to reduce the average 
rpt and consequently rpv 
other revenue which includes revenue from the sale of leads through paa commission based sales through 
mcat for mortgages and loans and advertising revenue declined 28 over the year leads and commission 
based revenue fell in line with the declining credit markets revenue from advertising declined relative to 2007 
following a deliberate reduction in the space made available for impressionbased advertising aimed at improving 
the user experience on the website 
revenue 2008
£683m down 10
visitors 2008
351m up 27
2007
£760m
2008
£683m
2007
277m
2008
351m 27 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
revenue 2008
£777m up 38
visitors 2008
248m up 20
2007
£564m
2007
207m
2008
248m
2008
£777m
insurance
the insurance vertical currently offers customers the ability to search for and compare insurance products for 
amongst other things breakdown dental home life medical mortgage payment protection motor payment 
protection pet and travel insurance it also includes elements of the group’s lead business paa and advisory 
business mcat together with advertising revenue that derives from insurance products
the kpis for the insurance vertical are shown below
  31 december 31 december 
  2008  2007 change
visitors 000
1
  24830 20677 20
transactions 000  15385 13291 16
revenue £000 – click based revenue  66614 46674 43
revenue £000 – other
2
  11125 9762 14
revenue £000 – total  77739 56436 38
rpv  £313 £273 
rpt  £449 £351 
1  as noted in the prospectus issued in connection with the listing of the company on 31 july 2007 the group’s visitor numbers during the period 
between january and may 2007 were understated due to certain visitors not being assigned a unique global user id the issue was resolved in 
may 2007 and has not impacted visitor numbers in the insurance vertical after may 2007 the group has not been able to quantify the exact 
extent of the understatement
1  the group recorded a substantial increase in its reported visitors from 27 april 2008 to the end of june 2008 following a release made in respect 
of the antivirus software avg in assessing whether a webpage was safe it ‘followed’ every link or url displayed on an email or webpage to the 
destination website this meant that many web based businesses including the group recorded visitors from users of the avg software who 
themselves did not technically visit the website the 2008 visitor count has been adjusted for the estimated impact of this avg released a further 
update to its antivirus software in early july 2008
2  during 2008 the group undertook an exercise based on additional information made available to it to reallocate impressionbased advertising 
revenue between the money and insurance verticals in 2007 consistent with the results presented for the year ended 2008 as a result of this 
exercise £20m previously shown in the money vertical in other revenue has been reallocated and recorded in other revenue in the insurance 
vertical in respect of the year ended 31 december 2007
total revenue in the insurance vertical grew by 38 from £564m to £777m and click based revenue by 43 to 
£666m rpt increased by 28 to £449 as a number of contracts with providers were migrated from a pure  
cost per click to a cost per action arrangement over the course of 2007 and 2008 this has allowed the group to 
benefit from improved conversion rates as a result of better search functionality on its website and improvements 
made to provider websites a number of significant enhancements to the website were made in the fourth quarter 
including the launch of the ‘policy wizard’ in motor insurance which enables customers in real time to make 
changes to policy details and compare the impact this has on pricing across multiple providers simultaneously it is 
anticipated that the group will continue to benefit from these improvements in 2009 other revenue increased by 
14 to £111m over the period 
the insurance comparison market remains the most competitive that the group currently operates in advertising 
and in particular television advertising spend in the insurance comparison market increased significantly over the 
period in response to this the group increased its spend in the insurance vertical to protect its market share 
whilst only marginally increasing group television advertising spend over the prior year customer acquisition costs 
from search engines also increased significantly in the third quarter which is traditionally a competitive period for 
the motor insurance industry customer acquisition costs returned to more normal levels in the fourth quarter the 
increased marketing expenditure in 2008 lowered the relative contribution in the insurance vertical compared  
to 2007 28 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review 
financial and business review continued
revenue 2008
£191m up 27
visitors 2008
489m up 32
2007
£150m
2007
370m
2008
£191m
2008
489m
travel
the travel vertical currently offers customers the ability to search for and compare travel products for amongst 
other things airport parking car hire flights hotels and package holidays
the kpis for the travel vertical are shown below
  31 december 31 december 
  2008 2007 change
visitors 000
1 
 48924 36964 32
transactions 000  38149 30636 25
revenue £000 – click based revenue  16818 13080 29
revenue £000 – other  2271 1924 18
revenue £000 – total  19089 15004 27
rpv  £039 £041 
rpt  £044 £043 
1  the group recorded a substantial increase in its reported visitors from 27 april 2008 to the end of june 2008 following a release made in respect 
of the antivirus software avg in assessing whether a webpage was safe it ‘followed’ every link or url displayed on an email or webpage to the 
destination website this meant that many web based businesses including the group recorded visitors from users of the avg software who 
themselves did not technically visit the website the 2008 visitor count has been adjusted for the estimated impact of this avg released a further 
update to its antivirus software in early july 2008
total revenue in the travel vertical grew by 27 from £150m to £191m and click based revenue by 29 from 
£131m to £168m visitors grew by 32 over the period whilst rpv fell by 4 revenue from the flights channel 
was impacted in the year by the continued popularity of the low cost branded carriers a number of which do not 
pay commissions to the group 
revenue growth slowed in the second half of the year as customers began to reduce their levels of discretionary 
spend this impacted the flights and hotels channels in particular package holidays and car hire revenue 
continued to grow strongly throughout the period other revenue grew 18 to £23m driven by increased  
visitor numbers
the group ceased television advertising activity in the travel vertical for the majority of the second half of the year 
in response to the weakening market conditions and only recommenced activity in the post christmas period  
full year television advertising expenditure in the travel vertical was £22m lower than the previous year 29 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
revenue 2008
£74m up 63
visitors 2008
112m up 97
2007
£45m
2007
57m
2008 
£74m
2008
112m
home services
the home services vertical offers customers the ability to search for and compare products for broadband 
mobile telephones shopping and utilities
the kpis for the home services vertical are shown below
  31 december 31 december 
  2008 2007 change
visitors 000
1 
 11245 5721 97
transactions 000  2891 1699 70
revenue £000 – click based revenue  7297 4345 68
revenue £000 – other  119 195  –39
revenue £000 – total  7416 4540 63
rpv  £066 £079 
rpt  £252 £256 
1  the group recorded a substantial increase in its reported visitors from 27 april 2008 to the end of june 2008 following a release made in respect 
of the antivirus software avg in assessing whether a webpage was safe it ‘followed’ every link or url displayed on an email or webpage to the 
destination website this meant that many web based businesses including the group recorded visitors from users of the avg software who 
themselves did not technically visit the website the 2008 visitor count has been adjusted for the estimated impact of this avg released a further 
update to its antivirus software in early july 2008
total revenue in the home services vertical grew by 63 from £45m to £74m revenue grew particularly strongly 
in the utilities channel aided by the rising prices in the electricity and gas markets the group’s shopping channel 
launched in september 2008 and this helped drive the significant year on year increase in visitors of 97 to the 
home services vertical rpv and rpt are significantly lower in shopping than the other channels in the home 
services vertical and the change in sales mix has resulted in a fall in both kpis compared with 2007 
germany
during 2008 the group refocused its operations in germany launched in october 2007 the german operation 
originally concentrated on motor insurance using a third party provided solution to test the market whilst the initial 
reaction from customers was broadly positive the third party technology was not sufficiently flexible to allow rapid 
development particularly to the front end customer offering and was therefore discontinued the group invested 
in its own proprietary technology in the second half of 2008 developing a loans channel which commenced trading 
in january 2009 at wwwmarktvergleichde
key contractual arrangements
moneysupermarketcom limited a subsidiary of the company is party to contracts and other arrangements 
which the directors judge are essential to the group’s business
as with any internet business the group is dependent upon its ability to attract customers to its website either  
directly or through paid search or portal partners and revenue generated from commercial arrangements  
with its providers
the group uses television advertising to attract customers to its website directly the group incurred costs  
of £190m relating to television advertising in 2008 the group has contracts with a number of media agencies  
to acquire advertising inventory from commercial television companies the group typically has a commitment  
of between 6 and 10 weeks expenditure at any one time television costs represent 88 of distribution costs  30 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review 
financial and business review continued
the group uses search engines to acquire traffic via paid search the group spent £383m on paid search in 
2008 although there are a number of search engines that operate in the uk google is the dominant search 
engine and accounts for the majority of the group’s spend in this area the group has had contracts with a 
number of media agencies in the year to manage search engine marketing the group has no forward 
commitment to search engines and manages its spend on a real time basis
the group does not consider any of the contracts it has with portal partners to be material
the group has a number of contracts with providers which are based either on a cost per click basis or a cost  
per action basis or a hybrid of the two it also has a number of commercial arrangements based on the number  
of page impressions served in the case of banner advertising following the cessation of trade with first plus in 
august 2008 the group does not consider it has any material contracts with providers in any one channel
the group does however frequently deal with providers across a range of different channels managed under 
different contracts often to different parts of the same organisation and occasionally through third party media 
agencies at this consolidated channel level the largest individual provider represented approximately 4 of  
group internet revenue
during 2008 there was consolidation in the financial marketplace with the number of independent organisations 
reduced the brands under these group umbrellas are usually run independently and the marketing budget 
managed separately the largest group represented approximately 9 of group internet revenue 
acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited
on 22 june 2007 the company at that time controlled by simon nixon purchased the entire issued share  
capital of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited this was funded partly by a cash payment of  
£162m to one of the founder shareholders duncan cameron and partly by a shareforshare exchange  
this transaction has had a number of impacts on the financial statements and will also impact on  
subsequent periods
goodwill and intangibles
the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited gave rise to £1250m of goodwill and  
the recognition of £2072m of intangible assets individual intangible assets are amortised over their useful lives 
which are in the range of 310 years with a charge of £252m per annum in the first three years in the full year 
accounts a charge of £133m has been included in the accounts covering the period from 22 june 2007 to  
31 december 2007 and a full year’s charge of £252m has been included in the adjusted income statement for  
the years ended 31 december 2008 and 31 december 2007 and the statutory income statement for the year 
ended 31 december 2008
on an annual basis or where an indication exists the group is required to assess its goodwill and intangible 
assets for impairment for the current period the recoverable amount of the assets was taken to be their value in 
use and this was calculated by reference to the cash flows taken from the group’s forecasts discounted to their 
present value by a discount rate reflecting not only the time value of money but also additional risks specific to the 
group and the industry in which it operates and the limited visibility inherent in the current economic environment
as a result of this exercise the group concluded that it should recognise an impairment charge against goodwill  
of £700m in 2008 reducing the carrying value of the goodwill balance to £550m no impairment was deemed 
necessary against the other intangible assets further details of this exercise and the resulting impairment are 
provided in note 12 to the financial statements on pages 67 and 68 31 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
treasury and funding
the company raised £180m from the proceeds of the listing on 31 july 2007 approximately £178m of the 
proceeds raised were used to fund the costs of the acquisition by the company of duncan cameron’s shares in 
moneysupermarketcom financial group limited including all related costs and expenses of the acquisition the 
raising and draw down of debt finance and the costs of the listing the company acquired £143m of cash at the 
acquisition and has continued to generate cash from operations the company had cash balances of £735m at 
31 december 2008 and no debt the company has invested its cash over the period predominantly in instant 
access cash deposits and shortterm deposits of no more than three months and in light of the events which 
occurred in the banking sector over the past year now holds balances with a larger range of different uk and irish 
institutions as such the interest earned has closely followed movements in the bank of england base rate
dividend
the directors have adopted a progressive approach to dividend payout and initially had a dividend payout of 
approximately one third of adjusted net profit each year with one third of the annual amount payable as an interim 
dividend and two thirds as a final dividend the group announced on 27 august 2008 following a review of its 
cash position that it would increase its annual dividend payout to approximately one half of adjusted net profit to 
be paid on a broadly similar basis
the board is recommending a final dividend subject to shareholder approval consistent with the policy above in 
respect of the year ended 31 december 2008 this equates to £111m and represents 22p per ordinary share 
together with the interim dividend of 13p per ordinary share paid on 17 october 2008 this gives a total dividend 
for the year of 35p per ordinary share the total cost of the dividend for the financial year will be £176m the 
exdividend date for the final dividend is 25 march 2009 with a record date of 27 march 2009 and a payment date 
of 1 may 2009 shareholders have the opportunity to elect to reinvest their cash dividend and purchase existing 
shares in the company through a dividend reinvestment plan
tax
the group tax charge of £81m in the group income statement on page 54 represents an effective tax rate of 
–16 this is significantly below the prevailing rate for the period of 285 the current year has been impacted by 
a number of items the group has disallowable expenses in the year of £760m including £700m of goodwill 
impairment and a further £12m of losses have arisen in the year relating to the german operation for which a 
deferred tax asset has not been recognised the group has also recognised a deferred tax charge of £25m 
representing the revaluation of the deferred tax asset held in relation to share options in future the group expects 
the underlying effective rate of tax to revert to close to the standard uk corporation tax rate of 28
loss per ordinary share
basic statutory loss per ordinary share for the period to 31 december 2008 was 118p 2007 earnings per share of 
30p details can be found in note 9 to the financial statements on page 66 adjusted basic earnings per ordinary 
share decreased from 75p to 69p per share the adjusted earnings per ordinary share is based on adjusted 
ebitda after deducting depreciation and adding estimated interest income for each period to calculate an 
adjusted profit before tax a tax rate of 285 2007 30 has been applied to calculate adjusted profit after tax
  32 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review 
principal risks and uncertainties
the tables below summarise the material financial and operational risks to the group 
and how the group seeks to mitigate them in the daytoday running of the business
risk area potential impact mitigation
significant worsening in credit markets financial institutions may reduce the  
quantum of lending and tighten their 
acceptance criteria for customers seeking  
to obtain credit this may reduce group 
revenue providers may increase their focus 
on customer retention and not acquisition 
this may reduce commissions available to 
price comparison websites
the group has invested heavily in its smart 
search technology which matches customers 
with providers offering products that are 
suitable to their particular credit 
circumstances this enables the results and 
information presented to customers to reflect 
price for risk and reflects lenders’ appetites to 
lend to different customer risk categories 
increasing the relevance of the results 
presented helping to protect group revenue
significant consolidation of providers consolidation of providers may continue in 
response to the poor credit markets this  
may reduce competition for business with 
customers having less choice and may  
reduce commissions available to price 
comparison websites 
the group will continue to improve its search 
functionality and deliver new relevant 
customers to providers at demonstrably lower 
acquisition costs compared with other media
security of cash balances the group holds significant cash balances  
a failure of a major financial institution with 
whom the group places significant deposits 
may result in a material loss to the group
the group has diversified its cash holdings 
across a number of institutions at the end of 
2008 the group held cash balances with five 
financial institutions with a maximum balance 
of £315m with any one institution
revenue assurance reduction of or a failure to recognise revenue 
from contracted providers where the group is 
remunerated on a cost per action basis
the group will continue to perform 
independent reviews using third parties to 
gain assurance that the group is being 
correctly remunerated for the sales it 
introduces to contracted providers
investment in new areas capital invested in new products and services 
or new geographies fails to make a return
investments in new areas typically leverage 
existing expertise and experience built up over 
many years capital requirements are relatively 
low and investment is managed in stages 
such that it is not finally committed until there 
is good visibility of a return
financial services and other markets 
regulation and taxation
the business model in financial services or 
other lines of business may be compromised 
by changes to existing regulation or the 
introduction of new regulation or changes  
to the tax legislation particularly value  
added tax
the group has a team of regulatory specialists  
who work with the business to ensure that  
it remains compliant with existing regulation 
and informed of impending regulation the 
group has embraced regulation to date and 
shares the vision of the regulators generally  
to make the market more transparent to the 
end customer
the group continues to monitor ongoing 
european union developments in respect of 
the review of the provision of financial 
intermediary services with regard to value 
added tax and any relevant case law in this 
area as it emerges
financial risks 33 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
risk area potential impact mitigation
competitive environment loss of market share and erosion of margins 
from increased competition
the group continues to focus on building 
market leading products to improve its 
proposition to customers this includes 
investment in customer retention tools and 
technology including crm initiatives which 
deliver additional features and functionality to 
customers
brand perception reduction in customer loyalty with existing 
customers and an inability to attract new 
customers if the business fails to maintain  
its position as a leading price comparison 
website
continued investment in television advertising 
reinforced through press activity will maintain 
the group in customers’ minds rigorous 
checking of the website through audit and 
review will maintain the accuracy of the 
information displayed additional investment in 
initiatives increases transparency to the 
customer helping to protect brand values 
capacity and functionality of it  
and systems infrastructure
failure to provide adequate service levels to 
customers or maintain revenue generating 
services
the group maintains two separate data 
centres with n  1 redundancy in relation to its 
core infrastructure to ensure that service is 
maintained in the event of a disaster at the 
primary data centre
retention of key management lack of necessary expertise or continuity to 
execute strategy
existing key management and new hires  
are tied in through attractive equity incentive 
packages and rewarding career structures  
in addition succession plans are being 
developed in 2009 for key members of  
the management team which will be  
regularly reviewed
reliance on search engine paid  
search and natural listings
reduction in gross margin through reduction 
in revenue derived from search engine 
optimisation or failure to manage search 
engine marketing campaigns appropriately
the group will continue to invest in 
sustainable search engine optimisation 
activities which adhere to search engine 
guidelines a new software solution was  
introduced during the year to assist in 
managing the profitability of search  
engine marketing campaigns
economic environment reduction in visitors and revenue from a 
recession as customers seek to reduce levels 
of discretionary expenditure 
the group continues to focus on building a 
wide range of market leading products to 
meet customers needs customers seeking to 
reduce levels of discretionary expenditure will 
also be looking to obtain ‘best’ value from 
compulsory products and services the 
diversification of the group both in the number 
of verticals that it operates in and the range of 
products and services it provides in each 
vertical should lessen the impact of a 
recession upon the group although it cannot 
entirely mitigate against it
operational risks 34 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
management
board of directors and company secretary
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9 35 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
1 gerald corbett abc age 57 
chairman of the board and  
chairman of the nomination committee
gerald was appointed chairman of the board 
in june 2007 he has been chairman of ssl 
international plc since august 2005 and 
chairman of britvic plc since november 2005 
gerald is also a nonexecutive director of 
greencore group plc and is chairman of the 
board of trustees of the royal national 
institute for the deaf gerald was chairman  
of woolworths group plc from 2001 to june 
2007 chief executive of railtrack plc from 
1997 to 2000 and group finance director of 
grand metropolitan plc from 1994 to 1997
2 simon nixon age 41 
deputy chairman
simon cofounded the group’s business in 
1993 and since then has been continuously 
involved in the management and development 
of the business including the launch of 
moneysupermarketcom in 1999 and 
travelsupermarketcom in 2004 simon  
was appointed to the board as chief 
executive officer in april 2007 and  
became executive deputy chairman  
on 25 february 2009
3 paul doughty age 40 
chief financial officer
paul joined the group in 2004 as chief 
financial officer he has 15 years of 
commercial finance experience with motorola 
limited national power plc and morse plc 
he is a qualified chartered accountant having 
trained and qualified at price waterhouse paul 
was appointed to the board in april 2007
4 peter plumb age 45 
chief executive officer 
peter joined the group in 2008 as  
managing director financial services  
and was appointed an executive director  
on 1 january 2009 peter became chief 
executive officer of the group on 25 february 
2009 prior to joining the group peter was the 
uk managing director of dunnhumby limited 
between 2006 and 2008 and was previously 
general manager of europe disney consumer 
products international director of dyson 
appliances limited and held commercial roles 
at pepsico international 
5 graham donoghue age 35
managing director travel
graham joined the group in 2008 as 
managing director travel and was appointed 
an executive director on 23 february 2009 
prior to joining the group graham was new 
media director of tui travel plc between  
2006 and 2008 
6 david osborne age 42
marketing director 
david was appointed an executive director  
on 23 february 2009 between 2005  
and 2009 david was uk regional general 
manager at easyjet he was previously head 
of advertising at ing direct head of 
advertising and ebusiness at orange and 
head of brand marketing at amazoncouk 
7 michael wemms abc age 69 
senior independent nonexecutive director 
and chairman of the remuneration committee
michael was appointed a nonexecutive 
director in july 2007 michael has been a 
nonexecutive director of galiform plc since 
2006 inchcape plc since 2004 and majid al 
futtaim group since 2005 he was formerly 
chairman of the british retail consortium 
between 2004 and 2006 chairman of house 
of fraser plc between 2001 and 2006 and a 
nonexecutive director of ad pharma 
holdings nv between 2006 and 2008 
michael was previously an executive director 
of tesco plc between 1989 and 2000
8 rob rowley abc age 59 
independent nonexecutive director  
and chairman of the audit committee
rob was appointed a nonexecutive director 
in september 2007 rob has been a non
executive director of liberty international plc 
since 2004 and is chair of its audit committee 
and senior independent director he was 
formerly deputy chairman of cable  wireless 
plc between 2003 and 2006 and a non
executive director of prudential plc between 
1999 and 2006 where he chaired its audit 
committee rob was previously at reuters plc 
from 1978 to 2001 where he was a director 
between 1990 and 2001
9 darren drabble age 34
company secretary and general counsel
darren joined the group as company 
secretary and general counsel in may 2007 
darren has a corporate and commercial law 
background originally qualifying as a solicitor 
with addleshaw goddard before working as  
a senior legal counsel at united utilities plc
a member of the audit committee
b member of the remuneration committee
c member of the nomination committee  36 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate responsibility
corporate responsibility report 
the group operates with an underlying awareness of its wider 
responsibilities to society
communities and charities
in addition to the group’s charity of the year during 2008 the 
group launched a new initiative called community aimed at 
harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of its employees to  
benefit the communities in which it operates
the community initiative is focused on helping charities within a 
few miles of the group’s offices in ewloe and so support is targeted 
primarily in flintshire and cheshire from the inception of the  
community scheme the group has set aside £7680 in 2008 and 
expects to set aside £2000 per month in 2009 via the charities  
aid foundation the community initiative is administered by the 
group’s employees who identify causes and make donations
since its launch in august 2008 the community scheme has 
already supported the following charities
miles of smiles
the club house mold
st john’s ambulance cheshire young carers
chester gang show scouts and guides
denbighshire home start
delyn women’s aid
in addition to the community initiative the group continues to 
select and support a charity on an annual basis the 200708 
charity of the year was brain injury rehabilitation and development 
bird bird is a chester based charity which provides a unique 
programme to aid the rehabilitation of people with neurological 
impairment over the course of the year employees raised £9976 
for bird with the group donating £13042 making a total donation 
in the year of £23018
employees have selected the hospice of the good shepherd  
for the group’s 200809 charity of the year the hospice which  
is on the outskirts of chester exists to provide highly specialised 
palliative care for people living with advanced diseases from the 
communities of chester deeside ellesmere port and rural 
cheshire during the year employees raised £2227 for the hospice 
with the group donating £3760 making a total donation in the year 
of £5987
environment
the group strives to reduce energy and raw material usage  
to support environmental and financial performance
the group has launched a new initiative called team green to 
focus on environmental and sustainability improvements in the  
way the group operates the team is focusing on recycling and 
energy use within the group as well as other areas such as local 
and ethical sourcing
the group has chosen not to set environmental key performance 
indicators due to its relative size and the limited impact it has on  
the environment the group does however participate in the 
carbon disclosure project
employees
the group actively encourages employee involvement and 
consultation and places emphasis on keeping its employees 
informed of the group’s activities via its intranet which was 
launched in 2008 regular briefings and the circulation to 
employees of relevant information including corporate 
announcements this also helps to achieve a common  
awareness amongst employees of the financial and economic 
factors affecting the performance of the group 
the group also operates an employee forum through which 
nominated representatives ensure that employees’ views are taken 
into account regarding issues that are likely to affect them an 
employee opinion survey process is also in place to ensure that 
employees are given a voice in the organisation and that the group 
can take action based on employee feedback
the group is committed to an equal opportunities policy  
the group aims to ensure that no employee is discriminated 
against directly or indirectly on the grounds of colour race  
ethnic and national origins nationality citizenship sex sexual 
orientation or gender marital status disability religion or belief 
being part time or on the grounds of age
the group recognises the importance of health and safety and the 
positive benefits to the group therefore the group’s commitment 
to health and safety makes good business sense
the group has a health and safety policy which is communicated 
to all employees through a health and safety handbook which is 
regularly reviewed and updated
supporting students
in order to build links between the group and local schools and 
colleges work experience and placements are offered to a number 
of students in doing so the group strives to make work 
placements positive challenging and relevant to participants’ 
current studies and their future job prospects
customers
the group is committed to providing a high quality price 
comparison service to its customers enabling them to compare  
a wide range of products in the money insurance travel and  
home services markets and to find the product most suited to  
their needs
to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction the group is 
constantly assessing the views of its customers and undertaking 
customer testing of its website the group provides customers with 
information from a variety of sources such as editorial content 
customer and expert reviews forums and community features to 
enrich their experience 37 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
directors’ report
the directors present their report and the group and company financial statements of moneysupermarketcom group plc  
the ‘company’ and its subsidiaries together the ‘group’ for the financial year ended 31 december 2008
principal activities
the company is a public limited company incorporated in england registered number 6160943 with its registered office at 
moneysupermarket house st david’s park ewloe chester ch5 3uz 
the principal activity of the group is the introduction of business to financial insurance travel and home services product providers 
through its websites moneysupermarketcom and travelsupermarketcom the principal activity of the company is that of a holding company
a fuller description of business activities is contained within the financial and business review on pages 22 to 31
business review
the chairman’s statement on pages 14 and 15 the chief executive’s reports on pages 16 to 21 the financial and business review on 
pages 22 to 31 and the principal risks and uncertainties on pages 32 and 33 provide a detailed review of the group’s activities likely 
future developments and principal risks and uncertainties the information contained in those sections fulfils the requirements of the 
business review as required by section 417 of the companies act 2006 and forms part of this report
information relating to corporate and social responsibility and employees is set out in the corporate responsibility report on page 36 
and forms part of this report
as at 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report there have been no important events 
affecting the business of the group which have occurred since 31 december 2008
corporate governance
the corporate governance report the audit committee report the nomination committee report and the directors’ remuneration 
report on pages 42 to 52 form part of this report
results and dividends
the group’s and company’s audited financial statements for the financial year ended 31 december 2008 are set out on pages 54 to 79
an interim dividend of 13p per ordinary share was paid on 17 october 2008
the directors recommend a final dividend of 22p per ordinary share if approved by shareholders at the forthcoming annual  
general meeting this will be paid on 1 may 2009 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 27 march 2009
share capital
details of the share capital of the company and changes to the share capital during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 
are set out in note 16 to the group financial statements on pages 69 and 70 which forms part of this report
major shareholders
as at 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report the company had been notified of the 
following significant holdings of voting rights in its ordinary shares in accordance with the financial services authority’s disclosure and 
transparency rules
      number of ordinary   percentage of 
      sharesvoting  ordinary share 
shareholder      rights notified  capital notified
simon nixon      270050932  5349
blackrock inc      25083425  496
capital research  management company      24480000  493
state street nominees limited      20581165  414
legal  general plc      20078304  399
coatue management llc      18167261  366 38 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
directors’ report continued
takeovers directive information
the following provides the additional information required for shareholders as a result of the implementation of the takeovers directive into 
english law
as at 31 december 2008 the issued share capital of the company comprised a single class of shares referred to as ordinary shares of 
002p each as at 31 december 2008 the authorised share capital of the company was £250000 comprising 1154705882 ordinary 
shares of 002p each and 95294118 deferred shares of 002p each and the issued share capital was £100971 comprising 504856062 
ordinary shares of 002p each on 21 may 2008 the company purchased the entire issued deferred share capital of 002p each from 
simon nixon for an aggregate amount of £1 and subsequently cancelled them
at the annual general meeting of the company held on 22 april 2008 shareholders authorised the directors to allot up to 165435000 
ordinary shares in the capital of the company directors will seek authority from shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting 
to allot up to 336230000 ordinary shares 
on a show of hands at a general meeting of the company every holder of ordinary shares present in person or by proxy and entitled to 
vote shall have one vote and on a poll every holder of ordinary shares present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote shall have one 
vote for every ordinary share held except in very limited circumstances the holders of deferred shares are not entitled to attend or vote at 
a general meeting of the company
the notice of the annual general meeting specifies deadlines for exercising voting rights and appointing a proxy or proxies to vote in 
relation to resolutions to be passed at the annual general meeting all proxy votes are counted and the numbers for against or withheld  
in relation to each resolution are announced at the annual general meeting and published on the company’s website after the meeting
there are no restrictions on the transfer of ordinary shares in the company other than
certain restrictions may from time to time be imposed by laws and regulations for example insider trading laws •	
pursuant to the listing rules of the financial services authority whereby certain directors officers and employees of the group  •	
require the approval of the company to deal in ordinary shares of the company
pursuant to an underwriting agreement entered into on 11 july 2007 ‘underwriting agreement‘ in connection with the listing of the •	
company on 31 july 2007 ‘listing’ each of simon nixon and paul doughty have agreed that subject to certain exceptions they will 
not without the prior written consent of credit suisse securities europe limited directly or indirectly sell or otherwise dispose of  
any ordinary shares in the capital of the company in excess of the numbers specified below
in the period between 11 july 2007 and 31 july 2008 nil ordinary shares ○
in the period between 1 august 2008 and 31 july 2009 up to one third of the number of ordinary shares owned by them as at  ○
listing assuming for these purposes that any options held by them over ordinary shares had been exercised at listing
in the period between 1 august 2009 and 31 july 2010 up to two thirds of the number of ordinary shares owned by them as at  ○
listing less any ordinary shares previously disposed of in accordance with the underwriting agreement as set out above assuming 
for these purposes that any options held by them over ordinary shares had been exercised at listing
pursuant to the underwriting agreement each of the nonexecutive directors and certain of the shareholders who sold shares in the •	
listing and pursuant to a lockup deed a shareholder had agreed that subject to certain exceptions during the period between  
11 july 2007 and 31 july 2008 they would not without the prior written consent of credit suisse securities europe limited directly or 
indirectly sell or otherwise dispose of any ordinary shares in the capital of the company held by them immediately following listing
pursuant to lockup deeds in favour of the company certain of the senior managers of the group have agreed that subject to certain •	
exceptions they will not without the prior written consent of the company directly or indirectly sell or otherwise dispose of any 
ordinary shares in the capital of the company in excess of the numbers specified below
in the period between 11 july 2007 and 31 july 2008 nil ordinary shares ○
in the period between 1 august 2008 and 31 july 2009 up to one third of the number of ordinary shares owned by them as at  ○
listing assuming for these purposes that any options held by them over ordinary shares had been exercised at listing
in the period between 1 august 2009 and 31 july 2010 up to two thirds of the number of ordinary shares owned by them as at  ○
listing less any ordinary shares previously disposed of in accordance with the lockup deeds as set out above assuming for these 
purposes that any options held by them over ordinary shares had been exercised at listing
under the rules of the moneysupermarketcom group plc share incentive plan ‘plan’ eligible employees were provided with the 
opportunity to receive ‘free’ shares on listing with a value as at the date of listing of £3000 and all employees are entitled to purchase 
ordinary shares in the company using money deducted from their pretax salary plan shares are held in trust for participants by capita 
irg trustees limited ‘trustees‘ voting rights are exercised by the trustees on receipt of participants’ instructions if a participant does 
not submit an instruction to the trustees no vote is registered in addition the trustees do not vote on any unawarded or forfeit shares 
held under the plan as surplus assets as at 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report  
the trustees held 023 of the issued ordinary share capital of the company
the company is not aware of any agreements between shareholders that may result in restrictions on the transfer of securities  
andor voting rights 39 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
the company and simon nixon entered into a relationship agreement on 11 july 2007 to regulate the ongoing relationship between them 
‘relationship agreement’ the company and simon nixon have agreed in the relationship agreement that simon nixon is entitled to 
appoint such number including himself one nonexecutive director for as long as he holds the beneficial interest in at least 15 of the 
ordinary shares of the company two nonexecutive directors for as long as he holds the beneficial interest in at least 30 of the ordinary 
shares of the company and three nonexecutive directors for as long as he holds the beneficial interest in at least 50 of the ordinary 
shares of the company the relationship agreement will terminate if simon nixon holds less than 15 of the ordinary shares of the 
company as at 31 december 2008 simon nixon had not appointed any nonexecutive directors pursuant to his rights in the 
relationship agreement
save in respect of peter plumb’s service agreement details of which are set out on page 50 and provisions of the company’s  
share schemes which may cause options and awards granted to employees under such schemes to vest on a takeover there are  
no agreements between the company and its directors or employees providing for compensation for loss of office or employment  
whether through resignation purported redundancy or otherwise that occurs because of a takeover bid
save in respect of the company’s share schemes there are no significant agreements to which the company is a party that take effect 
alter or terminate upon a change of control following a takeover bid
the company’s articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution at a general meeting of shareholders  
authority to purchase own shares
at the annual general meeting of the company held on 22 april 2008 shareholders authorised the company to purchase in the market 
up to 49680606 of its own ordinary shares either to be cancelled or retained as treasury shares as at 24 february 2009 being the latest 
practicable date prior to the publication of this report the company had not purchased any of its own ordinary shares in the market
directors will seek authority from shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting for the company to purchase in the market  
up to 50485606 of its own ordinary shares either to be cancelled or retained as treasury shares the directors will only use this power 
after careful consideration taking into account the financial resources of the company the company’s share price and future funding 
opportunities the directors will only purchase such shares after taking into account the effects on earnings per share and the interests  
of shareholders generally
research and development
innovation is important to the future success of the group and to the delivery of long term value to shareholders the group’s research 
and development expenditure is predominantly associated with computer and internet software systems successfully developed 
software is used to develop new products and to improve and extend the functionality and scope of the group’s internet operations
going concern
after making appropriate enquiries the directors have a reasonable expectation that the company and the group as a whole have 
adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future accordingly the financial statements have been 
prepared on a going concern basis
directors
the following persons were directors of the company during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 gerald corbett simon nixon 
paul doughty michael wemms and rob rowley their biographical details are set out on pages 34 and 35
peter plumb was appointed an executive director of the company on 1 january 2009 each of graham donoghue and david osborne 
were appointed executive directors of the company on 23 february 2009
the company’s articles of association give the directors power to appoint and replace directors under the terms of reference of  
the nomination committee any appointment to the board of the company must be recommended by the nomination committee for  
approval by the board the articles of association also require directors to retire and submit themselves for reelection at the first  
annual general meeting following their appointment and to stand for reelection at least every three years 
in accordance with article 105 of the company’s articles of association each of peter plumb graham donoghue and david osborne will 
retire at the forthcoming annual general meeting and being eligible will offer themselves for reelection at that meeting their biographical 
details are set out on pages 34 and 35
directors’ remuneration
the remuneration committee on behalf of the board has adopted a policy that aims to attract and retain the directors needed to run  
the group successfully details of the directors’ remuneration is set out in the directors’ remuneration report on pages 48 to 52
directors’ interests
details of the directors’ and their connected persons’ interests in the share capital and share options of the company as at  
31 december 2008 together with the changes in those interests between 31 december 2008 and 24 february 2009 being the  
latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report are set out in the directors’ remuneration report on pages 48 to 52  
no director has any other interest in any shares or loan stock of any group company 40 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
directors’ report continued
transactions with directors and related party transactions
the details of transactions with directors of the company and related party transactions in the financial year ended 31 december 2008 
are set out in note 21 to the group financial statements on pages 73 and 74 and the corporate governance report on pages 42 to 45
directors’ and officers’ insurance
during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 the group maintained liability insurance for its directors and officers
no qualifying third party indemnity provision or qualifying pension scheme indemnity provision was in force during the financial year  
ended 31 december 2008 or was in force at 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report
statement of directors’ responsibilities in respect of the annual report and the financial statements
the directors are responsible for preparing the annual report and the group and company financial statements in accordance with 
applicable law and regulations
company law requires the directors to prepare group and company financial statements for each financial year under that law they are 
required to prepare the group financial statements in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the eu and applicable law and have elected 
to prepare the company financial statements in accordance with uk accounting standards and applicable law uk generally accepted 
accounting practice
the group financial statements are required by law and ifrss as adopted by the eu to present fairly the financial position and the 
performance of the group the companies act 1985 provides in relation to such financial statements that references in the relevant  
part of that act to financial statements giving a true and fair view are references to their achieving a fair presentation
the company financial statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and  
of the profit or loss of the company for that period
in preparing each of the group and company financial statements the directors are required to
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently •	
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent •	
for the group financial statements state whether they have been prepared in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the eu •	
for the company financial statements state whether applicable uk accounting standards have been followed subject to  •	
any material departures disclosed and explained in the company financial statements
prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the group and the company  •	
will continue in business
the directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial 
position of the company and enable them to ensure that its financial statements comply with the companies act 1985 they have 
general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the group and to prevent and 
detect fraud and other irregularities the directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial 
information included on the company’s website
under applicable law and regulations the directors are also responsible for preparing a directors’ report directors’ remuneration report 
and corporate governance report that comply with that law and those regulations
statement of directors’ responsibilities pursuant to disclosure and transparency rules 4112
the directors confirm that to the best of their knowledge
the financial statements which are prepared in accordance with the applicable set of accountancy standards give a true and fair •	
view of the assets liabilities financial position and profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation 
taken as a whole
the business review includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the company and •	
the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that 
they face
the names and functions of the directors of the company are set out on pages 34 and 35 of the annual report
internal control
the corporate governance report and audit committee report on pages 42 to 46 includes the board’s assessment of the group’s 
system of internal controls and consideration of the guidance issued by the turnbull committee of the institute of chartered accountants  
of england and wales
employees
the group places considerable value on the involvement of its employees and consults with them on matters affecting them as employees 
and on the various factors affecting the performance of the group this ensures employees’ views can be taken into account in making 
decisions which are likely to affect their interests consultation is achieved through the group’s intranet which was launched in 2008 
regular team meetings and circulation to employees of results announcements and other corporate announcements this also helps to  41 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
achieve a common awareness amongst employees of the financial and economic factors affecting the performance of the group 
this year the group launched formal biannual business performance updates for all employees and an employee forum through  
which nominated representatives ensure that employees’ views are taken into account regarding issues that are likely to affect them  
an employee opinion survey process was also launched this year to ensure that employees are given a voice in the organisation and  
that the group can take action based on employee feedback
all employees are able to participate in the moneysupermarketcom group plc share incentive plan which gives employees  
the opportunity to purchase ordinary shares in the company using money deducted from their pretax salary on a monthly basis  
this helps to encourage employee interest in the performance of the group
the group is committed to providing equality of opportunity to all employees without discrimination and applies fair and equitable 
employment policies which seek to promote entry into and progression within the group appointments are determined solely by 
application of job criteria personal ability behaviour and competency
disabled persons have equal opportunities when applying for vacancies with due regard to their skills and abilities procedures ensure 
that disabled employees are fairly treated in respect of training and career development for those employees becoming disabled during 
the course of their employment the group is supportive so as to provide an opportunity for them to remain with the group wherever 
reasonably practicable 
further details of policies and initiatives are given in the corporate responsibility report on page 36
in the opinion of the directors all employee policies are deemed to be effective and in accordance with their intended aims
borrowings
the group did not have any borrowings during the financial year ended 31 december 2008
financial risk management
it is the group’s objective to manage its financial risk so as to minimise the adverse fluctuations in the financial markets on the group’s 
profitability and cash flow the specific policies for managing each of the group’s main financial risk areas are detailed in note 17 to the 
group financial statements on pages 70 and 71
political and charitable donations
during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 the group did not make any political donations and made charitable donations of 
£24482 2007 £4726
creditor payment policy
it is group policy to agree terms and conditions for its business transactions with suppliers payment is made in accordance with  
these terms provided the supplier meets its obligations the average number of trade creditor days outstanding for the group at  
31 december 2008 was 495 days the company is a holding company and had no trade creditors at 31 december 2008
disclosure of information to auditors
the directors who held office at the date of approval of this report confirm that so far as they are each aware there is no relevant  
audit information of which the company’s auditors are unaware and each such director has taken all the steps that he ought to have 
taken as a director to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditors are aware  
of that information
auditors
kpmg audit plc have indicated their willingness to accept reappointment as auditors of the company a resolution proposing their 
reappointment is contained in the notice of the forthcoming annual general meeting and will be put to shareholders at that meeting
annual general meeting
the forthcoming annual general meeting of the company will be held at de vere carden park hotel near chester cheshire ch3 9dq  
on thursday 16 april 2009 at 1100am
the notice convening the forthcoming annual general meeting of the company with details of the business to be transacted at  
the annual general meeting and explanatory notes has been sent to all shareholders
by order of the board
darren drabble
company secretary
24 february 2009 42 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
corporate governance report 
the board of directors ‘board’ of moneysupermarketcom group plc ‘company’ is committed to high standards of corporate 
governance and supports the principles laid down in the revised combined code on corporate governance published in june 2006  
by the financial reporting council ‘combined code’ this corporate governance report describes how the principles of the  
combined code are applied by the company and reports on the company’s compliance with the combined code’s provisions 
the board considers that the company has complied with the provisions of the combined code throughout the year ended  
31 december 2008 and to 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report except as  
set out below 
board of directors
the board currently has eight members comprising the nonexecutive chairman gerald corbett two independent nonexecutive 
directors michael wemms and rob rowley and five executive directors simon nixon paul doughty peter plumb graham donoghue 
and david osborne michael wemms has been designated as the senior independent nonexecutive director all of the directors bring 
strong judgement to the board’s deliberations the chairman and the nonexecutive directors contribute external expertise and 
experience in areas of importance to the group and they also contribute independent challenge and rigour to the board’s deliberations 
throughout the financial year ended 31 december 2008 half of the board excluding the chairman comprised nonexecutive directors 
determined by the board to be independent
the board considers that all the directors are able to devote sufficient time to their duties as directors biographies of the board are set 
out on pages 34 and 35 including details of the significant commitments of the chairman the board is satisfied that these appointments 
do not conflict with the chairman’s ability to carry out his duties and responsibilities effectively for the group 
the board considers that gerald corbett was independent on appointment as chairman and considers michael wemms and rob rowley 
to be independent being independent in character and judgement and free from relationships or circumstances which are likely to affect 
or could appear to affect their judgement when determining the chairman’s independence on appointment the board had regard to his 
share award ‘share award’ under the share award gerald corbett purchased ordinary shares in the company on the listing of the 
company on 31 july 2007 ‘listing’ at £170 per ordinary share to the value of £200000 and provided he completes three years’ service 
as chairman of the company from listing and retains the ordinary shares he purchased on listing during that three year period he will  
be entitled to subscribe at nominal value for two times the number of ordinary shares he purchased on listing the board believes that  
the number of ordinary shares subject to the share award is not sufficient to have an impact on his independence and thus concludes 
that the chairman was independent on appointment shareholder approval was obtained prior to the entry by the company into the  
share award
to enable the nonexecutive directors to more freely discuss the performance of the group’s management the chairman meets with  
the nonexecutive directors at least once each year without the executive directors present
the directors have direct and unrestricted access to the advice and services of the company secretary both the appointment and 
removal of the company secretary are matters for the board as a whole the company secretary is responsible for good information  
flow ensures that board procedures are followed and provides advice to the board on corporate governance directors can where they 
judge it necessary to discharge their responsibilities as directors obtain independent professional advice at the company’s expense 
directors have the right to require that any concerns they may have are recorded in the appropriate board or committee minutes
the practice of the company is to appoint nonexecutive directors for specified terms of three years subject to a maximum of up  
to 12 months’ notice within that period and also subject to reelection and to companies act provisions relating to the removal of a 
director each of the nonexecutive directors including the chairman currently holds a letter of appointment reflecting this
the service agreements of each of simon nixon paul doughty peter plumb graham donoghue and david osborne provide for  
12 months’ notice to be given by either the director or the company
the company’s articles of association require that new directors appointed by the board must retire and submit themselves for  
reelection by shareholders at the next annual general meeting following their appointment each of peter plumb graham donoghue  
and david osborne were appointed by the board after the 2008 annual general meeting and will offer themselves for reelection at the 
forthcoming annual general meeting the company’s articles of association further require that all directors must retire and submit 
themselves for reelection at least every three years 
the positions of chairman and chief executive officer are not combined ensuring a clear division of responsibility at the head of the 
company the division of roles and responsibilities between the chairman and chief executive officer is clearly established set out in 
writing and has been approved by the board
all members of the board take collective responsibility for the group’s performance the board has a formal schedule of matters  
reserved to it for decision making and matters delegated to committees of the board which are available on the group’s website  
at wwwmoneysupermarketcom the board determines the group’s strategy risk management policies business plan and annual 
operating budget acquisitions and disposals and other major investments and capital projects accounting policies and changes thereto 
dividend policy shareholder communications prosecution defence or settlement of material litigation remuneration policy the terms of 
reference of board committees and board structure composition and succession 43 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
board members are given appropriate documentation in a timely manner in advance of each board or committee meeting this normally 
includes a detailed report on current trading and full papers on matters where the board or committee will be required to make a decision 
or give its approval specific business related presentations are given when appropriate
there is an established procedure for the preparation and approval each year by the board of business plans and the annual budget  
the board receives reports on performance against the business plan and budget and reviews any significant variances each time it 
meets this information enables business performance to be monitored evaluated discussed and challenged where necessary and 
enables informed sound decisions to be made
save for matters reserved for decision making by the board the executive directors are responsible for the daytoday running of  
the group carrying out the agreed strategy adopted by the board and implementing specific board decisions relating to the operation  
of the group
the company provides directors’ and officers’ insurance cover for the benefit of directors in respect of claims arising in the performance 
of their duties
conflicts of interest
following the changes made to the company’s articles of association at the 2008 annual general meeting and the subsequent 
introduction of section 175 of the companies act 2006 on 1 october 2008 which gave boards the statutory power to authorise  
conflicts of interest formal conflict management procedures have been prepared and approved by the board in the future the 
nomination committee will be responsible for reviewing annually any conflict authorisations granted by the board and will make 
recommendations to the board as to their continuation and any changes to any terms or conditions or other limitations which may  
have been applied conflicts were authorised in 2008 by the board in compliance with the formal conflict management procedures  
it is the board’s intention to report annually on the company’s procedures for ensuring that the board’s powers of authorisation of 
conflicts are operated effectively and that the procedures have been followed
relationship agreement
the majority shareholder of the company is simon nixon the company and simon nixon entered into a relationship agreement on  
11 july 2007 to regulate the ongoing relationship between them ‘relationship agreement‘ the principal purpose of the relationship 
agreement is to ensure that the company is capable of carrying on its business independently of simon nixon and that transactions  
and relationships with simon nixon are at arm’s length and on normal commercial terms
the company and simon nixon have agreed in the relationship agreement that simon nixon is entitled to appoint such number including 
himself as a director one nonexecutive director for as long as he holds the beneficial interest in at least 15 of the ordinary shares of the 
company two nonexecutive directors for as long as he holds the beneficial interest in at least 30 of the ordinary shares of the 
company and three nonexecutive directors for as long as he holds the beneficial interest in at least 50 of the ordinary shares of the 
company the relationship agreement will terminate if simon nixon holds less than 15 of the ordinary shares of the company
the relationship agreement also includes a protocol to be observed in relation to any nonexecutive director appointed by simon nixon 
to deal with potential conflicts of interest and the provision of confidential information
as at 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report simon nixon had not appointed any  
nonexecutive directors pursuant to his rights in the relationship agreement
board committees
the board has three principal committees audit nomination and remuneration to which various matters are delegated the 
committees all have formal written terms of reference that have been approved by the board and are published on the group’s  
website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom they are also available in hard copy form on application to the company secretary
the directors who served on each of the committees during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 are set out below
committee chairman member member
audit rob rowley gerald corbett michael wemms
nomination gerald corbett michael wemms rob rowley
remuneration michael wemms gerald corbett rob rowley
details of the work of the audit nomination and remuneration committees are given in the reports of those committees on  
pages 46 to 52 44 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
corporate governance report continued
board and committee attendance
the board meets regularly to review the operation and performance of the group if and when required meetings in addition to the 
scheduled meetings are held either in person or by telephone conference the board normally meets on at least eight occasions in each 
financial year
the attendance record of the directors at board and committee meetings during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 is set out in 
the following table
      audit nomination remuneration 
name     board  committee  committee committee 
gerald corbett      9 4 2 6
simon nixon     9 – – –
paul doughty     9 – – –
michael wemms      9 4 2 6
rob rowley      9 4 2 6
total number of meetings held      9 4 2 6
the executive directors of the company may attend meetings of the committees at the invitation of the chairman of the  
respective committee
the chairman is primarily responsible for the workings of the board and is not involved in daytoday operational issues he sets the 
agendas in consultation with the executive directors and company secretary the chairman periodically holds meetings with the 
nonexecutive directors without the executive directors being present
performance reviews and directors’ development
the board has established a formal process for the annual evaluation of the performance of the board its committees and individual 
directors questionnaires were prepared which provided the framework for the evaluation process each director completed the 
questionnaires commenting on the performance of the other directors the board and each committee and submitted the completed 
questionnaires for collation utilising the responses to the questionnaires the chairman has conducted interviews with each director and 
assessed their individual performance the chairman has carried out an evaluation of the performance of the board as a whole and of 
each committee and led by the senior independent nonexecutive director the nonexecutive directors have met and assessed the 
performance of the chairman taking into account the views of the executive directors the conclusions of those evaluations have been 
presented to the board by the chairman and the senior independent nonexecutive director the evaluation process is designed to cover 
board processes the structure and capability of the board strategic alignment board dynamics and the skills brought to the board by 
each director 
the chairman and company secretary are responsible for preparing and implementing an induction programme for directors 
including guidance as to their duties responsibilities and liabilities as a director of the company and business familiarisation  
business familiarisation involves directors visiting the company’s offices and giving the directors the opportunity to meet the executive 
management team and other senior managers in the business they also have the opportunity to discuss organisational operational  
and administrative matters every director has access to appropriate training as required following their appointment
shareholder relations
the board is committed to establishing and maintaining good relationships with shareholders senior executives including the chairman 
chief executive officer and chief financial officer regularly meet with analysts and institutional shareholders to keep them informed  
of significant developments and to develop an understanding of their views which are reported back to the board formal presentations  
are given to analysts and investors covering the full year and half year results the company secretary deals with questions from  
individual shareholders
the results and results presentations together with all information reported to the market via the regulatory information service press 
releases and other shareholder information are published on the group’s website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom to be viewed and 
accessed by all shareholders
the senior independent nonexecutive director michael wemms is available to shareholders if they have concerns which contact 
through the normal channels of chairman chief executive officer or chief financial officer has failed to resolve or for which such  
contact is inappropriate
all shareholders will have the opportunity to ask questions at the forthcoming annual general meeting and at all other times by emailing 
or writing to the company the chairmen of the audit nomination and remuneration committees will be available to answer questions at 
the forthcoming annual general meeting shareholders may also contact the chairman the chief executive officer or if more appropriate 
the senior independent nonexecutive director to raise any issue with one or all of the nonexecutive directors of the company
the company will prepare separate resolutions on each substantially separate issue at the forthcoming annual general meeting  
the result of the vote on each resolution will be published on the group’s website after the annual general meeting and will be  
announced via the regulatory information service 45 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
internal control and risk management 
the board is responsible for the group’s system of internal control and risk management and for reviewing its effectiveness the system  
of internal control is designed to manage rather than eliminate the risk of failure to achieve business objectives and can only provide 
reasonable and not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss 
the key features of the group’s system of internal control and risk management are
a comprehensive annual business planning and budgeting process requiring board approval against which the group’s actual •	
performance and any significant variances are reviewed by the board
a schedule of matters reserved for the board’s approval to ensure it maintains control over appropriate strategic financial •	
organisational compliance and capital investment issues
an organisation structure with clearly defined lines of responsibility and delegation of authority •	
a clearly defined control policy and procedures for matters including appropriate authorisation levels •	
an executive management team which has the responsibility for identifying and evaluating risks facing the group and for putting  •	
in place procedures to manage and monitor those risks
an annual two day strategy event to identify evaluate and appropriately manage the key risks facing the group using an external •	
independent facilitator
in addition the audit committee receives
reports from the external auditors in relation to the financial statements and the material financial reporting judgements contained  •	
in them
reports from the external auditors in relation to the system of internal control and the testing by the external auditors of that system •	
the audit committee has conducted a review of the effectiveness of the group’s system of internal control and risk management during 
the financial year ended 31 december 2008 the board considers that in the context of the control environment described above  
the group’s system of internal control and risk management is effective and satisfactory
compliance with the combined code
the directors consider that during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 and to 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date 
prior to the publication of this report the company complied with the combined code except as follows
a32 – during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 at least half the board excluding the chairman comprised independent 
nonexecutive directors with effect from the appointment of peter plumb as an executive director on 1 january 2009 to succeed  
simon nixon as chief executive officer and the appointments of graham donoghue and david osborne as executive directors on  
23 february 2009 at least half the board excluding the chairman does not comprise independent nonexecutive directors the 
company has commenced the process with the assistance of an external search company to appoint additional independent  
nonexecutive directors
b21 – the remuneration committee comprises michael wemms and rob rowley both of whom the board has determined to be 
independent nonexecutive directors and gerald corbett accordingly the remuneration committee does not currently comprise at 
least three independent nonexecutive directors the company has commenced the process with the assistance of an external search 
company to appoint additional independent nonexecutive directors it is currently anticipated that at least one of the appointees will 
become a member of the remuneration committee
c31 – the audit committee comprises rob rowley and michael wemms both of whom the board has determined to be independent 
nonexecutive directors and gerald corbett accordingly the audit committee does not currently comprise at least three independent 
nonexecutive directors the company has commenced the process with the assistance of an external search company to appoint 
additional independent nonexecutive directors it is currently anticipated that at least one of the appointees will become a member of the 
audit committee
d11 – as a result of regular feedback provided to the board by the chairman chief executive officer and chief financial officer  
following their dialogue with major shareholders the senior independent nonexecutive director believes he is aware of the views  
of major shareholders unless requested by major shareholders the senior independent nonexecutive director does not attend 
meetings with them
this report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
darren drabble
company secretary
24 february 2009 46 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
audit committee report
the audit committee presents a separate report in relation to the 
financial year ended 31 december 2008
composition of the audit committee
the audit committee comprises the three nonexecutive directors 
rob rowley chairman of the audit committee gerald corbett 
and michael wemms rob rowley and michael wemms are 
considered by the board to be independent gerald corbett  
was considered by the board to be independent on appointment 
biographies of the members of the audit committee are set out on 
pages 34 and 35 rob rowley is a qualified accountant and was 
formerly finance director of reuters plc and chairman of the audit 
committee at prudential plc he is currently chairman of the audit 
committee at liberty international plc the board is satisfied that 
rob rowley has recent and relevant financial experience
operation of the audit committee
the audit committee met on four occasions during the financial 
year ended 31 december 2008 details of the attendance at audit 
committee meetings are set out in the corporate governance 
report on page 44
the chief financial officer together with the external auditors  
will normally attend meetings at the invitation of the chairman of  
the audit committee at each audit committee meeting the 
external auditors are invited by the audit committee to advise them 
of any matters which they consider should be brought to the audit 
committee’s attention without the executive directors present 
 
the company secretary acts as secretary to the audit committee 
the members of the audit committee can where they judge it 
necessary to discharge their responsibilities obtain independent 
professional advice at the company’s expense the external 
auditors may also request a meeting with the audit committee if  
they consider it necessary
the audit committee’s duties include
reviewing the group’s financial statements and the material •	
financial reporting judgements contained in them
reviewing the group’s internal control and risk  •	
management systems
advising the board on the appointment and removal of the •	
external auditors and the remuneration and terms of 
engagement of the external auditors
developing and implementing policy on the engagement of the •	
external auditors to supply nonaudit services 
considering the requirement for an internal audit function •	
reviewing the group’s whistleblowing procedures •	
the terms of reference of the audit committee are published on the 
group’s website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom and are available 
in hard copy form on application to the company secretary
the audit committee undertakes its activities in line with an annual 
work plan the audit committee agrees the scope of the audit 
work and discusses the results of the full year audit and half year 
review each year 
in order that the board is kept fully informed of the audit 
committee’s work the chairman of the audit committee reports 
on the audit committee’s work at the next board meeting the 
board also receives a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the 
audit committee
during the year the audit committee approved a new formal 
whistleblowing procedure whereby employees may in confidence 
disclose issues or concerns about possible malpractice or 
wrongdoing by the group or any of its employees without fear of 
reprisal this includes arrangements to investigate such matters 
and for appropriate followup action
internal control and risk management
the board is responsible for the group’s system of internal  
control and risk management and for reviewing its effectiveness 
the audit committee monitors and undertakes an annual review  
of the effectiveness of and the framework for the group’s system 
of internal control and risk management this includes annual 
consideration as to whether there is a need to establish an internal 
audit function
the audit committee undertook a review of the effectiveness of 
and the framework for the group’s system of internal control and 
risk management including financial operational and compliance 
controls during the year the external auditors were engaged to 
review and test the effectiveness of the group’s system of internal 
control and to assist the audit committee in its review of the 
effectiveness of that system the audit committee received 
comprehensive reports from the external auditors at each audit 
committee meeting on the results and progress of this review and 
the tests undertaken by the external auditors
during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 the audit 
committee considered the need to establish an internal audit 
function and concluded that the control systems are sufficient for 
the size and complexity of the group such that an internal audit 
function is not required at this time this will be reviewed in 2009
review of the work of the external auditors
subject to the annual appointment of the external auditors  
by shareholders the audit committee regularly reviews the 
relationship between the group and the external auditors  
this review includes an assessment of their performance  
costeffectiveness objectivity and independence
the audit committee is responsible for ensuring that an 
appropriate relationship is maintained between the group and  
the external auditors the group has implemented a policy of 
controlling the provision of nonaudit services by the external 
auditors in order to maintain their independence and ensure that 
their objectivity and independence is safeguarded this control is 
exercised by ensuring that all nonaudit services are subject to the 
prior approval of the audit committee during the year the audit 
committee approved the appointment of other accountancy firms 
to provide nonaudit services to the group and anticipates that this 
will continue in 2009 
the audit committee having considered the external auditors’ 
performance during their period in office recommends their 
reappointment a full breakdown of the audit and nonaudit related 
fees is set out in note 5 to the group financial statements on page 
64 the audit committee discussed the level of fees and 
considered them appropriate given the current size of the group 
the audit committee is satisfied that the level and scope of 
nonaudit services undertaken by the external auditors does not 
impair their independence and objectivity
this report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
rob rowley
chairman of the audit committee
24 february 2009 47 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
nomination committee report
the nomination committee presents a separate report in relation  
to the financial year ended 31 december 2008
composition of the nomination committee
the nomination committee comprises the three nonexecutive 
directors gerald corbett chairman of the nomination committee 
michael wemms and rob rowley rob rowley and michael 
wemms are considered by the board to be independent  
gerald corbett was considered by the board to be independent  
on appointment biographies of the members of the nomination 
committee are set out on pages 34 and 35 
operation of the nomination committee
the nomination committee met on two occasions during the 
financial year ended 31 december 2008 details of the attendance 
at nomination committee meetings are set out in the corporate 
governance report on page 44
the nomination committee meets as necessary and is responsible 
for evaluating the balance of skills knowledge and experience of 
the board considering the size structure and composition of the 
board and where necessary considering and recommending  
to the board persons who are appropriate for appointment  
as directors
the nomination committee has a formal rigorous and transparent 
procedure for the appointment of new directors to the board the 
process involves the nomination committee interviewing suitable 
candidates who are proposed by either existing board members or 
by an external search company careful consideration is given to 
ensure appointees have enough time available to devote to the role 
and that the balance of skills knowledge and experience on the 
board is maintained 
when dealing with the appointment of a successor to the 
chairman the senior independent nonexecutive director will  
chair the nomination committee instead of the chairman
when the nomination committee has identified a suitable 
candidate the chairman of the nomination committee will  
make a recommendation to the board with the board making  
the final decision
during the year the nomination committee reviewed the balance 
of skills knowledge and experience of the board together with the 
size structure and composition of the board and considered the 
appointment of additional executive directors of the company 
including the appointment of a chief executive officer to succeed 
simon nixon
after meeting with nomination committee members peter plumb 
was appointed an executive director with effect from 1 january 
2009 and each of graham donoghue and david osborne were 
appointed executive directors with effect from 23 february 2009
the nomination committee has commenced the process with the 
assistance of an external search company to appoint additional 
independent nonexecutive directors
the company secretary acts as secretary to the nomination 
committee the members of the nomination committee can 
where they judge it necessary to discharge their responsibilities 
obtain independent professional advice at the company’s expense
at the invitation of the chairman of the nomination committee  
the chief executive officer chief financial officer and human 
resources director may attend meetings of the nomination 
committee
the terms of reference of the nomination committee are published 
on the group’s website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom and are 
available in hard copy form on application to the company secretary
each of the nonexecutive directors has written letters of 
appointment their respective letters of appointment set out their 
expected time commitment to the company each of the non
executive directors has undertaken that they have sufficient time to 
meet what is expected of them
in order that the board is kept fully informed of the nomination 
committee’s work the chairman of the nomination committee 
reports on the nomination committee’s work at the next board 
meeting the board also receives a copy of the minutes of each 
meeting of the nomination committee
this report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
gerald corbett
chairman of the nomination committee 
24 february 2009
  48 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
directors’ remuneration report
this directors’ remuneration report has been prepared by the remuneration committee and approved by the board for the financial 
year ended 31 december 2008 it has been prepared in accordance with the companies act 1985 and the directors’ remuneration 
report regulations 2002 ‘regulations’ this report provides the company’s statement of how it has applied the principles of good 
governance relating to directors’ remuneration and is intended to communicate the company’s policies and practices on  
executive remuneration
as required by the regulations this report will be subject to an advisory shareholder vote at the forthcoming annual general meeting 
kpmg audit plc have audited the content of the report described as ‘audited information‘ to the extent required by the regulations
remuneration committee
the remuneration committee comprises the three nonexecutive directors michael wemms chairman of the remuneration 
committee gerald corbett and rob rowley each of michael wemms and rob rowley are considered by the board to be independent 
gerald corbett was considered by the board to be independent on appointment biographies of the members of the remuneration 
committee are set out on pages 34 and 35
the company secretary acts as secretary to the remuneration committee the members of the remuneration committee can where 
they judge it necessary to discharge their responsibilities obtain independent professional advice at the company’s expense
at the invitation of the chairman of the remuneration committee the chief executive officer chief financial officer and human 
resources director may attend meetings of the remuneration committee except when their own remuneration is under consideration 
no director is involved in determining his or her own remuneration
the remuneration committee met on six occasions during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 details of the attendance at 
remuneration committee meetings are set out in the corporate governance report on page 44 the chairman of the remuneration 
committee reports the outcome of the meetings to the board the board also receives a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the 
remuneration committee
the remuneration committee meets not less than twice each year and is responsible for 
determining and agreeing with the board the framework and policy for the remuneration of the chairman executive directors •	
company secretary and executive management team
determining the remuneration package of the chairman executive directors company secretary and executive management team •	
including where appropriate bonuses incentive payments share options and pension arrangements within the terms of the agreed 
framework and policy
determining awards under the company’s share schemes •	
the remuneration committee’s terms of reference are published on the group’s website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom and  
are available in hard copy form on application to the company secretary
advisors
during the year the remuneration committee received advice from mmk limited who are independent remuneration consultants  
in connection with remuneration matters including market comparison salary benchmarking data and best practice and the development 
of the group’s performance related remuneration policy mmk limited has no other connection or relationship with the group mmk 
limited provided no other services to the group during the financial year ended 31 december 2008
remuneration policy and objectives
the remuneration policy with respect to the executive directors has been designed to provide market competitive remuneration relative  
to uk listed companies of similar size and scope
the principal objective of the remuneration policy is to provide market competitive levels of remuneration in a form and amount necessary 
to attract retain and motivate executive directors of appropriate calibre and experience which is essential to the future success of the 
group the importance of aligning the interests of the executive directors with the creation of shareholder value over both the short term 
and long term is key to this objective the remuneration committee believes that this requires
the provision of midmarket base salaries with appropriate leverage to reward sustained exceptional performance provided stretching •	
and demanding performance conditions are met
a reward structure that places an appropriate emphasis on short term and long term performance to support operating performance •	
and to reward sustained longer term performance
the company believes that in order to meet its remuneration objectives the remuneration of executive directors should comprise a 
balance between fixed and variable performance related pay elements with a significant proportion of potential total remuneration 
comprising performance related elements
the remuneration committee has reviewed the remuneration policy to ensure it is sufficiently flexible to take account of future changes  
in the group’s business operations and environment and recognises key developments in remuneration practice and alignment to 
shareholders’ interests consequently the policy set out in this report has applied during 2008 and will apply in 2009 in determining the 
remuneration arrangements of the executive directors the remuneration committee is sensitive to the pay and employment conditions 
elsewhere in the group especially when determining base salary increases  49 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
components of remuneration
the potential components of the remuneration packages of the executive directors consist of a number of separate elements namely 
base salary a performance related bonus pension contributions car allowance long term incentive plan share option scheme and 
share incentive plan in addition paul doughty is to participate in the simon nixon scheme which is described further on page 50
base salary
the base salary positions the role and the individual fairly within a competitive market range derived from a peer group of uk listed 
companies salaries for the executive directors are reviewed annually to take account of market movement individual contribution  
and increases elsewhere in the group 
performance related bonus
targets were approved by the remuneration committee at the beginning of 2008 and were aligned to internal targets strategic business 
objectives for 2008 and to shareholders’ interests 
target bonuses were payable for the achievement of performance measures based on adjusted ebitda set at appropriately stretching 
levels combined with the achievement of certain objectives based on a balanced scorecard approach up to 125 of base salary for 
simon nixon and 100 of base salary for paul doughty were payable for the achievement of target performance for the achievement  
of performance greater than target the bonus amounts increased on a straight line basis according to a set formula in the financial  
year ended 31 december 2008 simon nixon earned a bonus of 40 of base salary and paul doughty earned a bonus of 33 of  
base salary
following a review of incentive arrangements the remuneration committee has decided that the same overall structure as applied in 
2008 should continue in 2009 target bonuses will be paid for the achievement of performance measures based on adjusted ebitda set 
at appropriately stretching levels combined with the achievement of certain objectives based on a balanced scorecard approach up to 
125 of base salary for peter plumb and 100 of base salary for each of paul doughty graham donoghue and david osborne will be 
payable for the achievement of target performance for the achievement of performance greater than target the bonus amounts will 
increase on a straight line basis according to a set formula simon nixon will not participate in the group’s performance related bonus 
scheme in 2009
pension contributions
the company operates a contributory money purchase pension scheme for the benefit of the executive directors in all cases base 
salary only is pensionable during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 the company matched pension contributions up to 1  
of base salary for the benefit of the executive directors in 2009 the company will match pension contributions up to 8 of base salary  
for the benefit of the executive directors
car allowance
in 2008 the company provided a car allowance of £7200 per annum for each of the executive directors from 1 january 2009 the 
company provides a car allowance of £14000 per annum for each of the executive directors the amount of the car allowance is 
reviewed annually
long term incentive plan
conditional free share awards are made by appleby trust jersey limited as trustee of the company’s employee benefit trust following 
recommendations made by the board the levels of award and the performance conditions are recommended and reviewed by the 
remuneration committee annually the awards normally vest at the end of a three year period subject to the achievement of the 
performance conditions and continued employment awards lapse to the extent that the performance conditions are not achieved the 
maximum award that can be made to an employee in any financial year is the equivalent of 200 of an employee’s annual base salary 
calculated on the basis of the market price of the company’s shares at the date of grant
in the financial year ended 31 december 2008 awards under the long term incentive plan were made to one employee of the group and 
were made over shares worth 55 of that employee’s annual base salary no awards were made to the executive directors in the year 
for 100 of the award to vest the company must achieve at least 100 of its cumulative adjusted ebitda target for the financial years 
2008 to 2010 inclusive vesting starts at 50 of the award for achievement of 90 of the cumulative adjusted ebitda target and 
increases on a straight line basis up to achievement of 100 of the target no award will vest for performance below 90 of the target
the remuneration committee chose a cumulative adjusted ebitda target as the performance target for this award under the long term 
incentive plan as this measure is aligned to internal growth targets and shareholders’ interests the remuneration committee will meet 
once the results for the three year plan period are available to ascertain whether the performance conditions have been satisfied as 
determined by the audited financial results of the company and its subsidiaries for the financial years 2008 to 2010 inclusive
the remuneration committee has decided for 2009 to revise the performance targets of the long term incentive plan as a result 
performance targets will be based on a combination of an adjusted ebitda target and total shareholder return relative to a selected peer 
group of companies the remuneration committee has chosen this combination of targets to provide closer alignment of the long term 
incentive plan with underlying group financial performance and shareholder interests 50 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
directors’ remuneration report continued
share option scheme
prior to the listing of the company on 31 july 2007 ‘listing’ the group operated the moneysupermarketcom financial group limited 
share option scheme all options under this scheme were granted prior to listing and the group does not intend to grant any further 
options under this scheme the options vest over a three year period from the date of grant subject to continued employment and will 
lapse on the earlier of the tenth anniversary of the date of grant and the date the option holder ceases to be employed by the group  
there are no performance conditions applicable to this scheme as it is a historic scheme used prior to listing principally as a means of 
retaining key employees 
share incentive plan
the company’s hmrc approved all employee share incentive plan provides all employees with the opportunity to purchase ordinary 
shares in the company on a monthly basis using money deducted from their pretax salary
simon nixon scheme
as disclosed in the prospectus issued in connection with the listing of the company simon nixon is to establish an additional incentive 
scheme under which he will personally grant options over 1413199 ordinary shares held by him in favour of paul doughty one tranche  
of the options will vest on 31 july 2009 subject to paul doughty’s continued employment with the group the remaining tranche of the 
options will vest based on satisfaction of group related performance targets and individual related performance targets for the financial 
year 2008 and for the first 6 months of 2009 subject to his continued employment with the group 
the purpose of this scheme is to further incentivise the achievement by paul doughty of exceptional performance and to align his interests 
with the interests of shareholders
service agreements
the current policy is for executive directors’ service agreement notice periods to be normally no longer than 12 months
the service agreements of the current executive directors and the letters of appointment of the nonexecutive directors include the 
following terms
 effective date unexpired 
 of service term notice notice 
 agreement  approximate period from period from 
 letter of months from director company 
 appointment 31 december 2008
1
 months months
executive directors    
simon nixon 25 february 2009 12 12 12
paul doughty 31 july 2007 12 12 12 
peter plumb 25 february 2009 12 12 12 
graham donoghue 23 february 2009 12 12 12 
david osborne 23 february 2009 12 12 12
nonexecutive directors    
gerald corbett 28 june 2007 18 12 12
michael wemms 10 july 2007 19 12 12
rob rowley 19 september 2007 21 0 12
1 executive directors are appointed on 12 month rolling contracts
peter plumb’s service agreement contains a temporary provision which states that if his employment is terminated by the company as a 
result of a change in control wrongful dismissal or redundancy before 1 november 2011 he will be entitled to the sum of £225000 less 
the market value of any shares received or receivable by him pursuant to his participation in the group’s long term incentive plan and 
less any tax payable on such sum in addition to his 12 month notice period thereafter peter plumb’s notice period will revert to the 
normal 12 months which reflects the company’s general policy on such matters
subject to the above there are no special provisions for executive directors or nonexecutive directors with regard to compensation  
in the event of loss of office in the event of the employment of an executive director being terminated the remuneration committee 
would having regard to the individual’s circumstances pay due regard to best practice and take account of the individual’s duty to 
mitigate their loss
the service agreements and letters of appointment are available for inspection by shareholders at the forthcoming annual general 
meeting and during normal business hours at the company’s registered office address
other appointments
executive directors may only accept outside appointments on external boards or committees with the prior approval of the board  
in addition to his directorship of companies in the group simon nixon is a director of unique eventures limited and its subsidiaries 
abacus permanent limited online leads limited 1st source partnership limited dotcom travel limited and virtual processing limited 
and simonseekscom limited in each of which simon nixon is directly or indirectly the majority shareholder in addition to his 
directorship of companies in the group paul doughty is a director of unique eventures limited and its subsidiaries abacus  51 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
jun 07 sep 07 dec 07 mar 08 jun 08 sep 08 dec 08
moneysupermarketcom group plc
ftse 250 index excluding investment trusts
permanent limited online leads limited 1st source partnership limited dotcom travel limited and virtual processing limited in 
addition to his directorship of companies in the group peter plumb is a director of the naked fruit company limited
nonexecutive directors
the nonexecutive directors do not have service agreements but instead have letters of appointment for a three year term the current 
policy is for nonexecutive directors’ letters of appointment notice periods to be normally no longer than 12 months each of the  
nonexecutive directors currently has a letter of appointment reflecting this
remuneration of nonexecutive directors consists solely of fees the remuneration of the chairman is determined by the remuneration 
committee and the remuneration of the other nonexecutive directors is determined by the executive directors the nonexecutive 
directors do not participate in any of the group’s bonus pension share option or other incentive schemes
performance graph
the following graph shows the total shareholder return of the company in comparison to an appropriate index for the period  
since listing
total shareholder return moneysupermarketcom group plc and ftse 250 index excluding investment trusts
value of a hypothetical £100 holding since listing
the remuneration committee considers the ftse 250 index excluding investment trusts to be an appropriate index for total shareholder 
return and comparison disclosure as it represents a broad equity market index in which the company is a constituent member
directors’ interests in shares
as at 31 december 2008 the directors’ beneficial interests in the share capital of the company were as follows
 31 december 2008 31 december 2007
executive directors
simon nixon 270050932 270538243
 ordinary shares ordinary shares
  95294118
  deferred shares
paul doughty 699539 2055
 ordinary shares ordinary shares
nonexecutive directors
gerald corbett 117647 117647
 ordinary shares ordinary shares
michael wemms 5500
 ordinary shares –
rob rowley – –
  52 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
corporate governance
directors’ remuneration report continued
the shareholdings shown on the previous page are all beneficial interests and include the interests of their spouses civil partners and 
infant children or stepchildren together with the interests held on their behalf by the trustee of the company’s share incentive plan which 
is detailed on page 50 no director held a nonbeneficial interest in any shares
in the period 31 december 2008 to 24 february 2009 being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this report there has 
been no change in the directors’ interests in shares in the company other than through the monthly purchases in january and february 
2009 of ordinary shares under the company’s share incentive plan by paul doughty this has resulted in an increase in the interests held 
by paul doughty of 433 ordinary shares during this period
audited information
the following information has been audited by the company’s auditors as required by the companies act 1985
directors’ remuneration
details of individual directors’ remuneration received during the financial year ended 31 december 2008 are as follows
        total six 
        months and 
        nine days 
     performance   ended 31 
   basic salary taxable related pension total december  
   and fees benefits bonus contributions 2008 2007 
   £
1
 £
2
 £ £ £ £
executive directors        
simon nixon   325000 7200 131250 – 463450 238463
paul doughty   237500 7200 78750 – 323450 198174
nonexecutive directors     
gerald corbett
3
   190000 25000 – – 215000 207500
michael wemms   75000 – – – 75000 86080
rob rowley   60000 – – – 60000 17000
total emoluments   887500 39400 210000 – 1136900 747217
1  between 1 january 2008 and 30 june 2008 simon nixon and paul doughty’s basic salaries were £300000 and £225000 respectively per annum with effect from 1 july 
2008 simon nixon’s and paul doughty’s basic salaries were increased to £350000 and £250000 respectively per annum gerald corbett receives a basic fee of £190000 per 
annum michael wemms and rob rowley each receive a basic fee of £50000 per annum an additional fee of £15000 per annum is paid to michael wemms as the senior 
independent nonexecutive director and an additional fee of £10000 per annum is paid to each of rob rowley and michael wemms as the chairmen of the audit and 
remuneration committees respectively
2  benefits for the executive directors incorporate all benefits and expense allowances arising from employment which relate to the provision of a car allowance benefits for 
gerald corbett relate to an annual allowance of £25000 for a motor vehicle and associated costs
3  under a share award agreement between the company and gerald corbett dated 31 july 2007 gerald corbett will be entitled to subscribe at nominal value for 235294 
ordinary shares in the company representing twice the number of shares he purchased on listing with an investment of £200000 conditional upon completion of three years’ 
service as chairman of the company from listing and the continued retention for that three year period of the 117647 ordinary shares he purchased on listing
directors’ interests in share options and the long term incentive plan
full details of the options over ordinary shares in the company held by the executive directors under the share option scheme during  
the financial year ended 31 december 2008 are shown below as at 31 december 2008 no awards had been made to the executive 
directors under the long term incentive plan
        market price  
   options  options  options  options  option  of shares  date 
  options  granted  exercised  lapsed  held at  exercise  at date  from which 
 date  held at  during  during  during  end of  price  of exercise  option  expiry 
 of grant  start of year  year  year  year  year p  p  exercisable  date
simon nixon – – – – – – – – – –
total  – – – – –    
          
paul doughty 18 june 2007 3750000 – 1250000 – 2500000 6 66 18 june 18 june
         2008
1
 2017
total  3750000 – 1250000 – 2500000  
1 the options granted to paul doughty on 18 june 2007 vest in three equal tranches after the first second and third anniversary of the date of grant
2 the market price of the company’s ordinary shares on 31 december 2008 was 5325p and the range of closing prices during the year was 140p to 4325p
3 aggregate gains made by paul doughty on the exercise of options over 1250000 ordinary shares in the year were £746625
this report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
michael wemms
chairman of the remuneration committee 
24 february 2009 53 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
independent auditor’s report to the members of 
moneysupermarketcom group plc
we have audited the group and company financial statements the ‘financial statements’ of moneysupermarketcom group plc the 
‘company’ for the period ended 31 december 2008 which comprise the group income statement the group and company balance 
sheets the group cash flow statement the group statement of changes in equity and the related notes these financial statements 
have been prepared under the accounting policies set out therein we have also audited the information in the directors’ remuneration 
report that is described as having been audited
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body in accordance with section 235 of the companies act 1985 our audit 
work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an 
auditor’s report and for no other purpose to the fullest extent permitted by law we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone 
other than the company and the company’s members as a body for our audit work for this report or for the opinions we have formed
respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
the directors’ responsibilities for preparing the annual report and the group financial statements in accordance with applicable law and 
international financial reporting standards ifrss as adopted by the eu and for preparing the company financial statements and the 
directors’ remuneration report in accordance with applicable law and uk accounting standards uk generally accepted accounting 
practice are set out in the statement of directors’ responsibilities on page 40
our responsibility is to audit the financial statements and the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited in accordance with 
relevant legal and regulatory requirements and international standards on auditing uk and ireland
we report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and whether the financial statements and 
the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited have been properly prepared in accordance with the companies act 1985 
and as regards the group financial statements article 4 of the ias regulation we also report to you whether in our opinion the 
information given in the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements the information given in the directors’ report 
includes that specific information presented in the financial and business review that is cross referred from the business review  
section of the directors’ report
in addition we report to you if in our opinion the company has not kept proper accounting records if we have not received all the 
information and explanations we require for our audit or if information specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and other 
transactions is not disclosed
we review whether the corporate governance report reflects the company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the 2006 combined 
code specified for our review by the listing rules of the financial services authority and we report if it does not we are not required to 
consider whether the board’s statements on internal control cover all risks and controls or form an opinion on the effectiveness of the 
group’s corporate governance procedures or its risk and control procedures
we read the other information contained in the annual report and consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial statements 
we consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the 
financial statements our responsibilities do not extend to any other information
basis of audit opinion
we conducted our audit in accordance with international standards on auditing uk and ireland issued by the auditing practices board 
an audit includes examination on a test basis of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and the 
part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited it also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgements 
made by the directors in the preparation of the financial statements and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the 
group’s and company’s circumstances consistently applied and adequately disclosed
we planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to 
provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements and the part of the directors’ 
remuneration report to be audited are free from material misstatement whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error in forming 
our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements and the part of the 
directors’ remuneration report to be audited
opinion
in our opinion
the group financial statements give a true and fair view in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the eu of the state of the group’s •	
affairs as at 31 december 2008 and of its loss for the period then ended
the group financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the companies act 1985 and article 4 of the  •	
ias regulation
the company financial statements give a true and fair view in accordance with uk generally accepted accounting practice of the •	
state of the company’s affairs as at 31 december 2008
the company financial statements and the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited have been properly prepared in •	
accordance with the companies act 1985 and
the information given in the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements •	
kpmg audit plc
chartered accountants
registered auditor
st james’ square
manchester m2 6ds
24 february 2009 54 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
group income statement
for the period ended 31 december 2008
        six months 
        and nine days 
       year ended ended 
       31 december  31 december 
       2008  2007 
      note £000 £000
revenue       178800 88314
cost of sales       62063 29057
gross profit       116737 59257
distribution expenses       21618 10332
administrative expenses – other       79635 37817
administrative expenses – impairment of goodwill      12 70000 –
administrative expenses       149635 37817
results from operating activities      5 54516 11108
financial income      7 3504 1336
financial expense      7 – 4894
net finance incomecosts       3504 3558
lossprofit before income tax       51012 7550
income tax chargecredit      8 8094 1874
lossprofit for the period       59106 9424
   
attributable to   
equity holders of the company       58987 9472
minority interest      21 119 48
lossprofit for the period       59106 9424
lossearnings per share        
basic lossearnings per ordinary share pence      9 118 30
diluted lossearnings per ordinary share pence      9 118 29 55 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
group balance sheet
at 31 december 2008
       31 december  31 december 
       2008  2007 
      note £000 £000
assets   
noncurrent assets   
property plant and equipment      11 13596 12585
intangible assets      12 223653 318853
deferred tax asset      15 362 3124
total noncurrent assets       237611 334562
current assets   
trade and other receivables      13 16074 19906
prepayments       2059 1194
cash and cash equivalents       73465 54015
total current assets       91598 75115
total assets       329209 409677
   
liabilities      
noncurrent liabilities      
deferred tax liability      15 47259 54243
current liabilities   
trade and other payables      14 20710 25681
current tax liabilities       3394 2758
total current liabilities       24104 28439
total liabilities       71363 82682
     
equity       
share capital      16 101 118
share premium       171047 170565
retained earnings       20042 13285
other reserves       106740 143027
total equity attributable to equity holders of the company      257846 326995
minority interest       – –
total equity       257846 326995
total equity and liabilities       329209 409677
the financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 24 february 2009 they were signed on its 
behalf by
simon nixon 
paul doughty 56 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
group statement of changes in equity
for the period ended 31 december 2008
       foreign 
  issued    reserve currency 
  share share other retained for own translation 
  capital premium reserves earnings shares reserve total 
 note £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
foreign currency translation  – – – – – 9 9
deferred tax recognised on share based payments  – – – 262 – – 262
profit for the period  – – – 9424 – – 9424
total income and expense for the period  – – – 9686 – 9 9695
arising on acquisition of subsidiary  – – 143018 – – – 143018
issue of share capital  118 179927 – – – – 180045
transaction costs  – 9362 – – – – 9362
sharebased payment 18 – – – 3599 – – 3599
at 31 december 2007  118 170565 143018 13285 – 9 326995
foreign currency translation  – – – – – 6 6
deferred tax recognised on share based payments  – – – 209 – – 209
loss for the period  – – – 59106 – – 59106
total income and expense for the period  – – – 59315 – 6 59321
share options exercised  2 482 – – – – 484
purchase and cancellation of deferred shares  19 – 19 – – – –
equity dividends 10 – – – 14637 – – 14637
sharebased payment 18 – – – 4325 – – 4325
reserves transfer  – – 36300 36300 – – –
at 31 december 2008  101 171047 106737 20042 – 3 257846
other reserves
the other reserves balance represents the merger and revaluation reserves generated upon the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom 
financial group limited by the company as discussed in note 3 and a capital redemption reserve for £19000 arising from the acquisition 
of 95294118 deferred shares of 002p by the company from simon nixon
foreign currency translation reserve
the translation reserve comprises all foreign currency differences arising from the translation of the financial statements of foreign operations
reserve for own shares
the reserve for the company’s own ordinary shares comprises the cost of the company ordinary shares held by the group at 31 
december 2008 the group held 948184 shares at a cost of 002p per share through a trust for the benefit of the group’s employees
 foreign currency translation represents the only income or expense for the current and prior periods recognised directly in equity 57 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
group cash flow statement
for the period ended 31 december 2008
        six months 
        and nine days 
       year ended ended 
       31 december  31 december 
       2008  2007 
      note £000 £000
operating activities       
lossprofit for the period       59106 9424
adjustments to reconcile group net lossprofit to net cash flows       
 depreciation      11 3543 908
 amortisation of intangible assets      12 25200 13325
 impairment of goodwill      12 70000 –
 loss on disposal of property plant and equipment       78 –
 net finance incomecosts      7 3504 3558
 equitysettled sharebased payment transactions      18 4325 3599
 income tax chargecredit      8 8094 1874
 change in trade and other receivables       2890 2541
 change in trade and other payables       4971 1730
 income tax paid       11894 6254
net cash flow from operating activities       34655 23497
investing activities        
interest received       3581 1336
acquisition of subsidiary       – 164561
cash acquired with subsidiary       – 14296
acquisition of property plant and equipment      11 4618 6260
net cash flow from investing activities       1037 155189
financing activities     
proceeds from share issue       484 179951
purchase of own shares       – –
costs from issue of shares       – 9362
proceeds from borrowings       – 150000
loan from a related party       – 20000
repayment of borrowings       – 150000
interest paid       – 4882
dividends paid      10 14637 –
net cash flow from financing activities       14153 185707
net increase in cash and cash equivalents       19465 54015
cash and cash equivalents at start of period       54015 –
effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held       15 –
cash and cash equivalents at end of period       73465 54015 58 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements
1 corporate information
the group financial statements of moneysupermarketcom group plc “company” a company incorporated in england and its 
subsidiaries for the period ended 31 december 2008 were authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the directors on  
24 february 2009 the group financial statements have been prepared and approved by the directors in accordance with international 
financial reporting standards as adopted by the eu “adopted ifrss” the company has elected to prepare its company financial 
statements in accordance with uk gaap these are presented on pages 75 to 79
2 summary of significant accounting policies
basis of preparation
the financial statements are prepared on the historical cost basis comparative figures presented in the financial statements represent 
the six months and nine days ended 31 december 2007 the financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis which the 
directors deem appropriate given the group’s positive cash position and lack of debt
use of estimates and judgements
the preparation of financial statements requires management to make judgements estimates and assumptions that affect the  
application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets liabilities income and expenses actual results may differ  
from these estimates
estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period 
in which the estimate is revised and in any future periods affected
the most significant areas of estimation uncertainty and areas where critical judgements are made in applying accounting policies that 
have a material effect on the financial statements are listed below the uncertainties encountered and judgements made are described 
in more detail in the relevant accounting policies and accompanying notes
notes 3 and 12 goodwill and other intangibles including their amortisation and impairment •	
note 13  revenue recognition •	
note 13 provision for doubtful debts •	
note 14 accruals •	
note 18 sharebased payments •	
basis of consolidation
these group financial statements incorporate the financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries
subsidiaries are entities controlled by the group control exists when the group has the power directly or indirectly to govern the financial 
and operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities in assessing control potential voting rights that are currently 
exercisable or convertible are taken into account the financial statements of subsidiaries are included in the group financial statements 
from the date that control commences until the date that control ceases
foreign currency
the group financial statements are presented in sterling which is the company’s functional and presentation currency the functional 
currency of the foreign operation icero gmbh is the euro the income and expenses of the foreign operation are translated into sterling at 
an average exchange rate for the period in which the activity occurred the assets and liabilities of the foreign operation are translated into 
sterling using exchange rates ruling as at the balance sheet date the exchange difference arising upon translation is taken directly to a 
separate component of equity
monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the reporting date are retranslated to the functional currency at the 
exchange rate at that date foreign currency differences arising on retranslation are recognised as a profit or loss
revenue
internet business
the group generates fees from internet lead generation click based revenue commissions from brokerage sales and advertising through 
a variety of contractual arrangements the group recognises click based revenues and associated costs in the period that the lead is 
generated brokerage commissions are recognised at the point of completion of the transaction with the customer advertising revenue is 
recognised in the period when an advertisement is delivered to the end user
intermediary business
commissions are recognised on completed transactions in the period that a transaction completes
revenue is recognised net of value added tax
property plant and equipment
property plant and equipment are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses
where parts of an item of property plant and equipment have different useful lives they are accounted for as separate items of property 
plant and equipment 59 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
2 summary of significant accounting policies continued
depreciation is charged to the income statement on a straightline basis over the estimated useful life of each part of an item of property 
plant and equipment land is not depreciated assets under construction are not depreciated until brought into use the estimated useful 
lives are as follows
buildings 50 years
plant and equipment including it equipment  3 years
fixtures and fittings  5 years
office equipment  5 years
the useful lives and depreciation rates are reassessed at each reporting date
intangible assets
goodwill
business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition accounting method the excess of the cost of the business combination 
over the group’s interest in the net fair value of the acquiree’s identifiable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities is recognised in the 
balance sheet as goodwill and is not amortised
after initial recognition goodwill is measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses with the carrying value being reviewed for 
impairment at least annually and whenever there is an indication that the carrying value may be impaired
other intangible assets
the cost of other intangible assets acquired in a business combination is fair value as at the date of acquisition after initial recognition 
intangible assets are carried at cost less any accumulated amortisation and any accumulated impairment losses all the group’s intangible 
assets other than goodwill have been identified as having finite useful lives as such they are amortised on a straight line basis over their 
useful economic life and assessed for impairment whenever there is an indication that the intangible asset may be impaired the 
amortisation period and the amortisation method for an intangible asset with a finite useful life is reviewed at least at each financial year 
end the amortisation expense on intangible assets with finite lives is recognised in the income statement in the expense category 
consistent with the function of the intangible asset the estimated useful lives are as follows
marketrelated 10 years
customer relationships  7 years
customer lists  3 years
technology  3 years
marketrelated intangible assets are defined as those that are primarily used in the marketing or promotion of products and services  
for example trademarks trade names and internet domain names
customerrelated intangible assets consist of customer lists customer contracts and relationships and noncontractual customer 
relationships for accounting purposes customer relationships and customer lists have been identified separately relationships with 
highprofile customers provide the group with prominence in the marketplace create volume and traffic on the website and enhance the 
reputation of the brand customer lists allow the group to undertake targeted marketing activities
technologybased intangible assets relate to innovations and technical advances such as computer software patented and unpatented 
technology databases and trade secrets
impairment
the carrying amounts of the group’s assets are reviewed annually to determine whether there is any indication of impairment if such 
indication exists the asset’s recoverable amount is estimated
an impairment loss is recognised whenever the carrying amount of an asset or its cashgenerating unit exceeds its recoverable amount 
impairment losses are recognised in the income statement
for the purposes of impairment reviews the recoverable amount of the group’s assets is taken to be the higher of their fair value less 
costs to sell and their value in use
research and development
expenditure on research activities undertaken with the prospect of gaining technical knowledge and understanding is charged to the 
income statement when incurred development expenditure is capitalised when it meets the criteria outlined in sic 32 expenditure that 
does not meet the criteria is expensed directly to the income statement 60 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
2 summary of significant accounting policies continued
cash and cash equivalents
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash balances and call deposits bank overdrafts that are repayable on demand are included as a 
component of cash and cash equivalents for the purpose only of the cash flow statement
employee benefits
defined contribution plans
obligations for contributions to defined contribution pension plans are recognised as an expense in the income statement as incurred
sharebased payment transactions
the share option programme allows certain group employees to acquire shares of moneysupermarketcom group plc these awards  
are granted by moneysupermarketcom group plc the fair value of options granted is recognised as an employee expense with a 
corresponding increase in equity the fair value is measured at grant date and spread over the period during which the employees 
become unconditionally entitled to the options the fair value of the options granted is measured using the blackscholes model taking 
into account the terms and conditions upon which the options were granted the amount recognised as an expense is adjusted to reflect 
the actual number of share options that vest except where forfeiture is due only to share prices not achieving the threshold for vesting
shortterm employee benefits
shortterm employee benefit obligations are measured on an undiscounted basis and are recognised in the income statement as the 
related service is provided
a provision is recognised for the amount expected to be paid under shortterm cash bonus or profit sharing plans if the group has a 
present legal or constructive obligation to pay this amount as a result of past service provided by the employee and the obligation can be 
estimated reliably
net finance income
net finance income comprises interest payable and interest receivable which are recognised in the income statement as they accrue 
using the effective interest method
dividends
dividends payable to the company’s shareholders are recognised as a liability and deducted from shareholders’ equity in the period in 
which the shareholders’ right to receive payment is established
taxation
tax on the profit or loss for the year comprises current and deferred tax tax is recognised in the income statement except to the extent 
that it relates to items recognised directly in equity in which case it is recognised in equity
current tax is the expected tax payable on the taxable income for the year using tax rates enacted or substantively enacted at the 
balance sheet date and any adjustment to tax payable in respect of previous years
deferred tax is provided on temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes 
and the amounts used for taxation purposes the following temporary differences are not provided for the initial recognition of goodwill 
the initial recognition of assets or liabilities that affect neither accounting nor taxable profit other than in a business combination and 
differences relating to investments in subsidiaries to the extent that they will probably not reverse in the foreseeable future the amount of 
deferred tax provided is based on the expected manner of realisation or settlement of the carrying amount of assets and liabilities using 
tax rates enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date
a deferred tax asset is recognised only to the extent that it is probable that future taxable profits will be available against which the asset 
can be utilised
a deferred tax liability was recognised in the prior period as 30 of the value of the intangible assets with finite lives which were generated 
upon the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited representing the tax effect of the amortisation of these assets in 
future periods at the prior period end this liability was revalued at the enacted corporation tax rate of 28 this being the rate at which 
the liability will unwind this liability will decrease in line with the amortisation of the related intangible assets with the deferred tax credit 
recognised in the income statement in accordance with ias 12
group management of capital
the group’s objectives when managing capital are
to safeguard the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern so that it can continue to provide returns for shareholders and benefits •	
for other stakeholders and
to provide an adequate return to shareholders by pricing products and services commensurately with the level of risk •	 61 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
2 summary of significant accounting policies continued
the group sets the amount of capital in proportion to risk the group manages the capital structure and makes adjustments to it in  
the light of changes in economic conditions and the risk characteristics of the underlying assets in assessing the level of capital all 
components of equity are taken into account ie share capital and retained earnings and reserves where applicable
the group manages its cash balances by depositing them with a number of financial institutions to reduce credit risk the group has no 
debt as at 31 december 2008 and is not subject to externally imposed capital requirements management of capital therefore focuses 
around its ability to generate cash from its operations in order to maintain or adjust the capital structure the group may adjust the 
amount of dividends paid to shareholders return capital to shareholders issue new shares or sell assets to raise funds the group 
believes it is meeting its objectives for managing capital as funds are available for reinvestment where necessary as well as being in a 
position to make returns to shareholders where this is felt appropriate
accounting standards issued but not yet effective
a number of new standards amendments to standards and interpretations have been issued during the year ended 31 december 2008 
but are not yet effective and therefore have not yet been adopted by the group
ifrs 8 – operating segments ○ introduces the ‘management approach’ to segmental reporting ifrs 8 which becomes mandatory  
for the group’s 2009 financial statements will require the disclosure of segment information based on the internal reports regularly 
reviewed by the group’s chief operating decision maker in order to assess each segment’s performance and to allocate resources  
to them currently the group presents segment information on a business and geographical segment basis see note 4 the group 
expects to present its segmental reporting on a different basis in the future
ifric 13 – customer loyalty programmes ○ addresses the accounting by entities that operate or otherwise participate in customer 
loyalty programmes for their customers it relates to customer loyalty programmes under which the customer can redeem credits for 
awards such as free or discounted goods or services ifric 13 which becomes mandatory for the group’s 2009 financial statements 
is not expected to have any impact on the group financial statements
amendment to ias 1 – presentation of financial statements ○ requires presentation of all nonowner changes in equity either in  
a single statement of comprehensive equity or in an income statement plus a statement of comprehensive equity the amended 
standard which will become effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 with earlier adoption permitted will 
require a change in the presentation of the group’s financial statements
amendment to ias 23 – borrowing costs ○ requires an entity to capitalise borrowing costs directly attributable to an acquisition 
construction or production of a qualifying asset as part of the cost of the asset removing the option to recognise the costs as an 
expense the revised standard is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 the group currently holds no 
borrowings so the standard is expected to have no impact on the group financial statements
amendment to ifrs 1 and ias 27 – cost of an investment in a subsidiary ○ requires changes to the accounting for a non
controlling interest in and the loss of control of a subsidiary the amendments which are effective for annual periods beginning on  
or after 1 july 2009 and apply retrospectively except in certain circumstances are not expected to have any impact on the group 
financial statements
amendment to ifrs 2 – share based payments vesting conditions and cancellations ○ changes the definition of vesting 
conditions within ifrs 2 to clarify that vesting conditions are limited to service conditions and performance conditions with other 
conditions considered nonvesting under the amendment nonvesting conditions are taken into account in measuring the grant date fair 
value of the share based payment and there is no trueup of equitysettled arrangements for differences between expected and actual 
outcomes therefore if all vesting conditions are met then the entity will recognise the grant date fair value of the equitysettled share 
based payment as a compensation cost even if the counterparty does not become entitled to the share based payment due to a failure to 
meet a nonvesting condition the amendment applies retrospectively to annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 with earlier 
application permitted the group does not expect the amendment to have any impact on the group financial statements
amendment to ias 32 – financial instruments presentation and ias 1 – presentation of financial statements ○ provides 
exemptions from the requirement to classify as a liability financial instruments under which an entity has an unavoidable obligation  
to deliver cash the exemptions apply to two categories only of instruments issued by an entity being puttable financial instruments  
or an instrument or components of instruments that impose on the entity an obligation to deliver to another party a pro rata share of  
the net assets of the entity only on liquidation the amendments set out detailed definitions and circumstances that must be met  
before these exemptions are available the amendments to ias 32 lead to consequential amendments to ias 1 ifrs 7 and ifric 2 
the amendments to ias 32 are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 with earlier adoption permitted  
the group does not currently hold any financial instruments falling within the scope of the amendment and therefore does not  
expect the amendment to have any impact on the group financial statements
amendment to ias 39 – financial instruments recognition and measurement – eligible hedged items ○ addresses the two 
situations where the iasb considered that diversity existed or was likely to exist being the designation of onesided risk in a hedged 
item and the designation of inflation in a financial hedged item the amendment does not replace existing guidance but simply 
provides additional application guidance to clarify the existing principles in relation to what items can qualify for hedge accounting 
assessing hedge effectiveness and designating financial items as hedged items the amendment is effective for accounting periods 
beginning on or after 1 july 2009 and is not expected to have any impact on the group financial statements
the group continues to monitor the potential impact of other new standards and interpretations which may be endorsed by the european 
union and require adoption by the group in future accounting periods 62 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
3 business combinations
on 22 june 2007 the company acquired 100 of the voting shares of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited
the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities of the consolidated moneysupermarketcom financial group limited group  
of companies at the date of acquisition and the corresponding carrying amounts immediately before the acquisition were
      pre 
      acquisition   recognised  
      carrying fair value values on  
      amounts adjustments acquisition  
      £000 £000 £000
property plant and equipment      7233 – 7233
intangible assets      – 207213 207213
deferred tax assets      133 1706 1839
trade and other receivables      22293 – 22293
prepayments      1463 – 1463
cash and cash equivalents      14296 – 14296
      45418 208919 254337
deferred tax liabilities      – 62000 62000
trade and other payables      12346 2827 9519
      12346 59173 71519
net identifiable assets and liabilities      33072 149746 182818
goodwill on acquisition note 12        124965
total consideration        307783
the fair value adjustments to intangible fixed assets represent the fair values calculated by an independent third party as attributable to 
the group’s marketing related intangible assets customer relationships customer lists and technology the deferred tax liability 
represents the tax effect which will result from the amortisation of the intangible assets calculated at 30 of their fair value the deferred 
tax asset and trade payables adjustment represent the recognition of the tax effect of share based payments 
the goodwill recognised on the acquisition is attributable mainly to the skills and technical talent of the acquired business’ workforce and 
expectations of the group’s future performance
the total cash element of the acquisition was £164765000 and comprised a cash payment and costs directly attributable to the 
acquisition £162000000 was paid to acquire 40 of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited and there were £2765000  
of costs associated with the acquisition
at the same time shares in moneysupermarketcom financial group limited representing 15 of share capital with fair value of 
£60750000 were exchanged as part of the acquisition
subsequently the 45500 moneysupermarketcom financial group limited shares owned by simon nixon were exchanged for 85498 b 
ordinary shares in moneysupermarketcom group plc as this was a transaction between parties under common control it is outside of 
the scope of ifrs 3 and the shares have been recorded at book value at the date of transaction
consideration
        £000
cash consideration        162000
costs associated with the acquisition        2765
fair value of shareforshare exchange        60750
transfer of 45 from company under common control        82268
total        307783 63 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
3 business combinations continued
the consideration has resulted in the recognition of a merger reserve for 15 of the fair value of assets acquired of £60750000 a merger 
reserve of £16923000 for 45 of the book value transferred from a company under common control and a revaluation reserve of 
£65345000 representing 45 of the fair value of the intangible assets transferred from a company under common control subsequent 
to the impairment of goodwill discussed in note 12 £36300000 of these reserves has been released to retained earnings 
        £000
cash outflow on acquisition 
net cash acquired with the subsidiary        14296
cash paid        164561
net cash outflow        150265
from the date of acquisition moneysupermarketcom financial group limited contributed £18869000 to the net profit of the group 
during 2007
if the combination had taken place at the beginning of 2007 the profit for the group for the year ended 31 december 2007 would have 
been £17406000 and revenue from continuing operations would have been £162882000
4 segmental information
business segments
the group’s primary format for segment reporting is business segments and its secondary format is geographical segments there is no 
material difference between the country origin of sales and the location of customer
 2008 
i
 2007
   internet intermediary total internet intermediary total 
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
period ended 31 december
revenue         
segment revenue   172532 6268 178800 82586 5728 88314
results        
segment result   52587 827 53414 12077 114 11963
unallocated expenses     1102   855
lossprofit from operating activities     54516   11108
net finance incomecosts     3504   3558
lossprofit before tax     51012   7550
income tax chargecredit     8094   1874
lossprofit for the period     59106   9424
as at 31 december
assets and liabilities      
segment assets   35316 146 35462 35173 461 35634
intangible assets   168688 – 168688 193888 – 193888
goodwill   54965 – 54965 124965 – 124965
unallocated assets     70094   55190
total assets      329209   409677
segment liabilities   28817 3412 32229 36765 2599 39364
deferred tax liability   47259 – 47259 54243 – 54243
unallocated liabilities     8125   10925
total liabilities     71363   82682
other segment information
capital expenditure        
property plant and equipment   4618 – 4618 13493 – 13493
intangible fixed assets   – – – 332178 – 332178
total capital expenditure     4618   345671
depreciation   3543 – 3543 908 – 908
amortisation   25200 – 25200 13325 – 13325
impairment of goodwill   70000 – 70000 – – –
unallocated expenses relate to group overheads included within the unallocated assets balance is £41400000 2007 £50000000 of 
cash which is held by moneysupermarketcom financial group limited and £27993000 2007 £1600000 of cash held by the company 
as such this cash cannot be attributed to either business segment 64 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
4 segmental information continued
geographical segments
the following table presents revenue expenditure and certain asset information regarding the group’s geographical segments
 2008 
i
 2007
   uk europe total uk europe total 
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
period ended 31 december 
revenue         
segment revenue   178800 – 178800 88157 157 88314
other segment information     
segment assets   328977 232 329209 409215 462 409677
capital expenditure        
property plant and equipment   4445 173 4618 13392 101 13493
intangible assets   – – – 332178 – 332178
total capital expenditure     4618   345671
5 results from operating activities
       31 december 31 december 
        2008  2007 
       £000 £000
lossprofit on ordinary activities before taxation is stated after charging  
depreciation       3543 908
amortisation of intangible assets       25200 13325
impairment of goodwill       70000 –
research and development costs       915 709
auditors’ remuneration      
 audit of these financial statements       60 66
 audit of subsidiaries’ financial statements       45 50
 review of interim financial statements       25 –
 services relating to direct and indirect taxation       150 176
 services relating to it advisory       34 –
 services relating to a review of processes and controls       182 103
 other services       99 61
during 2007 the auditors also provided services relating to the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited and 
flotation of the company to the value of £1229000 which were capitalised or charged to share premium
6 staff numbers and cost
the average number of persons employed by the group including directors during the period analysed by category was as follows
       number of number of 
       employees employees 
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007
it operations       264 269
administration       363 337
       627 606
the aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
wages and salaries       25155 9322
compulsory social security contributions       2389 1034
contributions to defined contribution plans       24 12
equitysettled sharebased payment transactions       4325 3599
       31893 13967 65 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
7 finance income and expense
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
financial income        
interest received on bank deposits       3504 1336
financial expense  
interest expense on financial liabilities       – 4894
net finance incomeexpense       3504 3558
the interest expense incurred in 2007 includes £3664000 of costs directly associated with the raising and drawdown of the loan facility 
used during the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited by the company and £1230000 of interest payable on 
the loan facility
8 income tax
tax chargedcredited in the income statement  
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
current tax  
current tax on income for the period       13936 7152
current tax on equitysettled share options       1405 247
       12531 6905
deferred tax  
origination and reversal of temporary differences       6984 3908
adjustments due to change in corporation tax rate       – 3715
deferred tax on unapproved equitysettled share options       2547 1156
       4437 8779
tax on lossprofit on ordinary activities       8094 1874
reconciliation of the effective tax rate
the tax chargecredit for the period is higher 2007 lower than the standard rate of corporation tax in the uk in 2008 of 28  
2007 30 the differences are explained below
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
lossprofit for the period       51012 7550
standard rate of tax at 285 2007 30       14538 2265
effects of  
expenses not deductible for tax purposes       1720 335
impairment charge against goodwill       19950 –
deferred tax not recognised at 285 2007 30       338 943
impact on deferred tax of reduction in corporation tax rate to 28      125 3715
movement on deferred tax related to sharebased payments      1143 1702
utilisation of losses on which no deferred tax asset previously recognised     644 –
tax on lossprofit on ordinary activities see above      8094 1874
the standard rate of corporation tax in the uk reduced from 30 to 28 with effect from 1 april 2008 the effective tax rate for 2008 has 
therefore been estimated at 285
unrecognised tax losses
the group has tax losses arising from the results of a foreign subsidiary of £1185000 2007 £477000 a deferred tax asset has not  
been recognised in respect of these losses as they may not be used to offset taxable profits elsewhere in the group and they have  
arisen in a foreign subsidiary that may not make a profit in the immediate future  66 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
9 earnings per share
basic earnings per share
basic earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the profit or loss for the period attributable to ordinary equity holders of the 
company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period
diluted earnings per share
diluted earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the profit or loss for the period attributable to ordinary equity holders of the 
company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period plus the weighted average number of 
ordinary shares that would be issued on the conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares into ordinary shares
earnings per share
basic and diluted lossearnings per share has been calculated on the following basis
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
lossprofit after taxation for basic and diluted earnings per share      59106 9424
basic weighted average ordinary shares in issue millions      4989 3136
dilutive effect of share based instruments millions       – 122
diluted weighted average ordinary shares in issue millions      4989 3258
basic lossearnings per ordinary share pence       118 30
diluted lossearnings per ordinary share pence       118 29
10 dividends
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
declared and paid during the period
equity dividends on ordinary shares  
final dividend for 2007 163p per share       8098 –
interim dividend for 2008 13p per share       6539 –
proposed for approval not recognised as a liability at 31 december
equity dividends on ordinary shares        
final dividend for 2008 22p per share        11107 –
11 property plant and equipment 
   land and  under plant and office fixtures 
   buildings construction equipment equipment and fittings total 
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
cost         
on acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited  4566 100 2289 153 125 7233
additions   10 5064 1151 18 17 6260
transfers   – 100 100 – – –
disposals   – – 70 – – 70
at 31 december 2007   4576 5064 3470 171 142 13423
additions   245 890 3283 80 120 4618 
transfers   1520 5064 3544 – – – 
disposals   11 – 131 9 18 169
foreign exchange adjustments   – – 28 – 4 32
at 31 december 2008   6330 890 10194 242 248 17904
depreciation        
depreciation for the period   48 – 801 23 36 908
disposals   – – 70 – – 70
at 31 december 2007   48 – 731 23 36 838
depreciation for the period   114 – 3281 89 59 3543
disposals   9 – 71 5 6 91 
foreign exchange adjustments   – – 18 – – 18
at 31 december 2008   153 – 3959 107 89 4308
carrying amounts
at 31 december 2007   4528 5064 2739 148 106 12585
at 31 december 2008   6177 890 6235 135 159 13596 67 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
12 intangible assets
   market customer customer technology 
   related relationship list related goodwill total 
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
cost
on acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited  132100 68500 713 5900 124965 332178
at 31 december 2007 and 31 december 2008   132100 68500 713 5900 124965 332178
amortisation
charged during the period   6985 5174 126 1040 – 13325
at 31 december 2007   6985 5174 126 1040 – 13325
charged during the period   13210 9786 238 1966 – 25200
impairment losses   – – – – 70000 70000
at 31 december 2008   20195 14960 364 3006 70000 108525
carrying amounts        
at 31 december 2007   125115 63326 587 4860 124965 318853
at 31 december 2008   111905 53540 349 2894 54965 223653
the amortisation charge for the period is included within administrative expenses in the income statement
during 2007 the group employed the services of an appropriately qualified and experienced independent third party to value the 
intangible assets acquired from moneysupermarketcom financial group limited this valuation was used as the initial carrying value for 
these assets since the goodwill and intangibles have historically constituted approximately 90 of the group’s net assets balance the 
group has tended to use its quoted market price to provide assurance over the value or indicate impairment of its assets at the balance 
sheet date and prior to any impairment the market capitalisation of the group represented 92 of the total carrying value of the goodwill 
and intangible assets 2007 market capitalisation exceeded carrying value by 70 whilst not directly comparable the quoted market 
price acts as an indicator of impairment and in light of this the group has performed a thorough assessment during the period to 
consider whether its noncurrent assets are impaired
impairment testing of goodwill
on an annual basis or where an indication exists the group is required to assess its goodwill and intangible assets for impairment given 
the worsening economic conditions and the turmoil in the credit and wider financial markets the impairment testing has been performed 
on the following basis
for the current period the recoverable amount of the assets was taken to be their value in use and was calculated by reference to the 
cash flows taken from the group’s forecasts as detailed below
for the purposes of impairment testing the group has one significant cash generating unit cgu the internet segment to which all of  
the goodwill has been allocated the segment is the lowest level at which goodwill is monitored for internal management purposes  
the present value of its future cash flows has been calculated with the following key assumptions applied
cash flows for year 1 represent management’s best estimate of future cash flows as at 31 december 2008 and are based upon the •	
group’s approved budget for 2009 the main assumptions underlying the 2009 budget relate to visitor numbers and revenue per 
transactionvisitor the budget reflects the general downturn in the consumer economy and expected lower levels of credit available to 
consumers and lower levels of discretionary expenditure in general
subsequent cash flows for future years assume 0 growth in earnings from those forecast for 2009 management believe this reflects •	
the tightening of lending criteria withdrawal of products by providers and the general downturn in the economy no reliable third party 
estimates of long term growth rates exist given it is a relatively new business model
cash flows into perpetuity have been incorporated in the calculations •	
a pretax discount rate of 16 has been used in the forecast this reflects the increased risk and uncertainty inherent in the current •	
economic climate the lack of confidence with which the near future can be forecast and the additional risks specific to the group  
and the industry in which it operates
when the economy begins to recover a different set of assumptions may be more appropriate 68 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
12 intangible assets continued
impairment testing of goodwill
the analysis performed calculates the value in use of the internet segment as £2372m indicating that the segment’s assets are impaired 
as follows
        £000
value in use of internet segment        237249
representing 
carrying value of tangible noncurrent assets        13596
carrying value of other intangible noncurrent assets        168688
implied book value of goodwill        54965
carrying value of goodwill        124965
impairment of goodwill        70000
an impairment loss of £700m has been recognised in the year and therefore there is no difference between the carrying amount  
and recoverable amount of the goodwill balance as at the balance sheet date an increase of 1 in the discount rate with all other 
assumptions held constant would give rise to an additional impairment charge of £145m a decrease of 1 in the value of cash flows 
generated with all other assumptions held constant would give rise to an additional impairment charge of £24m 
impairment testing of other intangible assets property plant and equipment
for impairment testing purposes all of the group’s intangible and other noncurrent assets are also assigned to the internet segment 
with reference to the testing described above the value in use of £2372m assigned to the internet segment indicates that neither the 
other intangible nor other noncurrent assets are impaired at an individual level management believe that the assumptions relating to 
each intangible asset remain applicable and that no adjustment is required to their valuation nor their useful economic lives 
13 trade and other receivables 
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
trade receivables       16074 19906
all receivables fall due within one year at 31 december 2008 trade receivables are shown net of a provision for doubtful debts of £348194 
2007 £103000 which represents a judgement made by management of which receivable balances are unlikely to be recovered
movements in the provision for doubtful debts were as follows
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
at start of period       103 – 
charge for the period       264 188 
amounts written off       19 85
at 31 december       348 103
as at 31 december the analysis of trade receivables that were past due but not impaired is as follows
   neither past    
   due nor    past due not impaired
  total impaired 030 days 3060 days 6090 days 90120 days 120 days 
  £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000  £000
at 31 december 2007  19906 13845 4781 757 289 45 189
at 31 december 2008  16074 10409 3466 1529 242 330 98
the group’s standard payment terms are 15 days 69 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
14 trade and other payables
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
trade payables due to related parties       5 563
other trade payables       12471 16790
nontrade payables and accrued expenses       8217 8288
deferred income       17 40
       20710 25681
as at 31 december the analysis of trade payables is as follows
  total current 030 days 3060 days 6090 days 90120 days 120 days 
  £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000  £000
at 31 december 2007  17353 10983 1246 361 405 183 4175
at 31 december 2008  12476 5584 1334 774 167 122 4495
as at 31 december 2008 the group did not hold any other financial liabilities requiring disclosure under ias 32
15 deferred tax assets and liabilities
deferred tax assets and liabilities are attributable to the following
 assets 
i
 liabilities
     2008 2007 2008 2007 
     £000 £000 £000 £000
at start of period     3124 1706 54243 61955
temporary differences     – – 6984 3997
reduction in corporation tax rate     – – – 3715
revaluation of unapproved options at the balance sheet date    2762 1156 – –
issue of ltip equitysettled share options     – 262 – –
at 31 december     362 3124 47259 54243
the deferred tax liability arises from the creation of the intangible assets upon the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group 
limited
the deferred tax asset arises from the future deduction available upon the exercise of share options
16 capital and reserves
authorised 
 2008 
i
 2007
     thousands £ thousands £
ordinary shares of 002p each     1154706 230941 1154706 230941
deferred shares of 002p each     95294 19059 95294  19059
     1250000 250000 1250000 250000
the following rights attached to the shares in issue during the period
ordinary shares
the owners of ordinary shares were entitled to returns of capital receive a dividend and vote 
during the period the group issued 8049996 ordinary shares upon the exercising of unapproved options by a number of senior management
deferred shares
the owners of deferred shares were not entitled to any returns of capital receive a dividend nor vote
on 21 may 2008 the group purchased 95294118 deferred shares from simon nixon for an aggregate consideration of £1 and 
subsequently cancelled them 70 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
16 capital and reserves continued
issued and fully paid
    ordinary a ordinary b ordinary deferred 
number of shares    shares shares shares shares total
at 22 june 2007   – – 2 – 2
shares issued upon acquisition of moneysupermarketcom 
 financial group limited   6758 4796 85498 – 97052
at 29 june 2007   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
5000 for one share split   33790000 23980000 427500000  – 485270000
at 9 july 2007   33790000 23980000 427500000 – 485270000
conversion of b ordinary shares   332205882 – 427500000 95294118 –
redesignation of a ordinary shares   23980000 23980000 – – –
issued on listing   105882000 – – – 105882000
issued on listing in relation to the share incentive plan  948184 – – – 948184
at 31 december 2007   496806066 – – 95294118 592100184
       
purchase and cancellation of deferred shares  – – – 95294118 95294118
issued on exercising of unapproved share options  8049996 – – – 8049996
at 31 december 2008   504856062 – –  504856062
 
    ordinary a ordinary b ordinary deferred 
£    shares shares shares shares total
at 22 june 2007   – – 2 – 2
shares issued upon acquisition of moneysupermarketcom      
 financial group limited   6758 4796 85498 – 97052
at 29 june 2007   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
5000 for one share split   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
at 9 july 2007   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
conversion of b ordinary shares   66441 – 85500 19059 –
redesignation of a ordinary shares   4796 4796 – – –
issued on listing   21176 – – – 21176
issued on listing in relation to the share incentive plan  190 – – – 190
at 31 december 2007   99361 – – 19059 118420
purchase and cancellation of deferred shares  – – – 19059 19059
issued on exercising of unapproved share options  1610 – – – 1610
at 31 december 2008   100971 – – – 100971
the group has a number of share option schemes under which options to subscribe for ordinary shares in the company have been 
granted to certain directors and employees note 18
17 financial instruments
interest rate risk
there is no significant exposure to interest risk as the group has no borrowings
the group invests its cash in a range of cash deposit accounts with uk and irish banks interest earned therefore closely follows 
movements in bank of england base rates a movement of 1 in this rate would result in a difference in annual pretax profit of £735000 
based on group cash cash equivalents and financial instruments at 31 december 2008 at the balance sheet date £31542000 was 
invested with bank of scotland this being the most invested with any one bank 71 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
17 financial instruments continued 
effective interest rates
in respect of interestearning financial assets the following table indicates their effective interest rates at the balance sheet date
 31 december 2008 
i
 31 december 2007
     effective  effective 
     interest rate £000 interest rate £000
cash and cash equivalents     284 73465 607 54015
credit risk
credit risk with respect to trade receivables is monitored on an ongoing basis by the credit control team and finance management by 
value over 90 2007 90 of the group’s revenue comes from blue chip companies most of the remaining provider base is subject to 
payment terms of one week collected by direct debits at the balance sheet date the five largest trade receivables by provider accounted 
for 19 2007 16 of the total trade receivables balance of £16074000 2007 £19906000 and the largest individual balance was 
£986817 2007 £618147
fair values
the group’s financial assets and liabilities are principally short term in nature and therefore their fair value is not materially different from 
their carrying value
18 sharebased payments
unapproved option scheme
grant 1
on 22 may 2007 the holders of unapproved options in moneysupermarketcom financial group limited agreed to have their unapproved 
options replaced with options in the company on similar terms to those that operated under the original scheme options over 1460 
shares were originally exchanged following the share subdivision on 9 july 2007 where each ordinary share was converted to 5000 
ordinary shares the shares under option were subject to a similar subdivision following this there were therefore 7300000 options in 
issue that related to the options in moneysupermarketcom financial group limited exchanged for options in the company
these options were originally issued in moneysupermarketcom financial group limited on 9 may 2005 and vested on the earlier  
of a trade sale or a flotation provided that in the event of a flotation the options had been held for three years the exercise price is  
6p per share
grant 2
on 18 and 22 june 2007 the company issued further unapproved options that entitled key management personnel and senior employees 
to acquire shares in the company options were originally granted over 1243 shares which following the subdivision referred to above 
became 6215000 shares
options vest on the earlier of a trade sale or subject to a flotation equally over a three year period on subsequent anniversaries from the 
date of issue the exercise price is 6p per share
grant 3
post the subdivision of shares referred to above on 10 and 21 july 2007 the company issued further unapproved options that entitled 
key management personnel and senior employees to acquire shares in the company options were originally granted over 105000 
shares options vest on the earlier of a trade sale or subject to a flotation equally over a three year period on subsequent anniversaries 
from the date of issue the exercise price is 6p per share
share incentive plan scheme sip
upon listing the company granted £3000 of ordinary shares at the price of £170 to each eligible employee free of charge if an employee 
leaves within one year of listing all of these ordinary shares are forfeit between one and two years of listing 50 are forfeit between two 
and three years of listing 20 are forfeit and after three years of listing none are forfeit 948184 shares were issued under the share 
incentive plan scheme in 2007
long term incentive plan scheme ltip
on 28 december 2007 the company made awards under the moneysupermarketcom group plc long term incentive plan for  
senior employees
under the plan shares vest at the end of a three year period dependent upon the achievement of a cumulative adjusted ebitda figure for 
the three financial years from 2008 to 2010
during the year a further 36643 share options were granted under the scheme 72 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
18 sharebased payments continued
chairman’s share award
gerald corbett the chairman of the company purchased 117647 ordinary shares on the listing of the company at the initial offer price of 
£170 subject to him retaining these shares for three years and provided that he completes three years’ service as chairman he shall be 
entitled to subscribe at nominal value for twice the number of shares he purchased on the listing
simon nixon scheme
during the year simon nixon established an additional incentive scheme under which he personally granted options over 633504 
ordinary shares in the company held by him in favour of one former employee of the group options over 487311 ordinary shares vested 
on 8 october 2008 and were exercised by the former employee on that date options over the remaining 146193 ordinary shares were 
dependent on the satisfaction of group related performance targets for the year ended 31 december 2008 and have lapsed shares 
transferred under the scheme upon the vesting and exercise of the options were funded by simon nixon personally it is anticipated that 
similar arrangements will be established in the future for paul doughty and certain other employees or former employees
movements in the year
the following table illustrates the number and weighted average exercise price waep of and movements in share options during the year
       number waep
on acquisition       2703 £300
additional options granted upon 5000 to 1 share split        13512297 £006
unapproved options granted during the period       105000 £006
chairman’s award granted during the period       235294 £000
unapproved options forfeit during the period       75000 £006
ltip options granted during the period       1220215 £000
outstanding at 31 december 2007       15000509 £005
ltip options granted during the period       36643 £000
ltip options forfeit during the period        254872 £000
unapproved options exercised during the period with a waep of £006     8049996 £006
unapproved options forfeit during the period       1198334 £006 
simon nixon scheme options granted during the period       633504 £000 
simon nixon scheme options exercised during the period with a waep of £000    487311 £000 
simon nixon scheme options lapsed during the period       146193 £000
outstanding at 31 december 2008       5533950 £004
as at 31 december 2008 1093332 share options had vested but not been exercised
the following table lists the inputs to the blackscholes models used for the schemes for the period ended 31 december 2008
      sip 
      chairman’s  simon nixon 
     unapproved award ltip scheme
fair value at grant date £     157 155165 126134 056
share price £     170 170 138 056
exercise price £     006 000 000 000
expected volatility      300 na na na
expected life of option years     30 30 30 00
weighted average remaining contractual life years     07 16 20 na
expected dividend yield      30 30 30 63
riskfree interest rate      45 45 45 42
expected volatility has been estimated by considering historic average share price volatility for similar companies staff attrition has been 
assessed based on historic retention rates
the share option charge in the income statement can be attributed to the following types of option
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
unapproved option scheme       3520 3358
share incentive plan sip scheme       249 189
chairman’s share award       121 52
long term incentive plan ltip scheme       162 –
simon nixon scheme       273 –
       4325 3599 73 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
19 pensions and other postemployment benefit plans
the group operates a defined contribution pension scheme based on basic salary the assets of the scheme are held separately from those 
of the group in an independently administered fund the amounts charged to the income statement represent the contributions payable to 
the scheme in respect of the accounting period in the period ended 31 december 2008 £24000 of contributions were charged to the 
income statement 2007 £12000 as at 31 december 2008 £2000 2007 nil of contributions were outstanding on the balance sheet
20 commitments and contingencies
the group is a defendant in a small number of disputes incidental to its operations which in aggregate are not expected to have a 
material adverse effect on the group provision has been made for the expected settlement where the group believes a payment will be 
made to settle the dispute
21 related party transactions
the group has the following investments in subsidiaries
 country of     
 incorporation ownership interest principal activity
moneysupermarketcom financial group limited uk 100 holding company
m2 mortgage club limited uk 100 mortgage facilitators
mortgage 2000 design  processing limited uk 100 mortgage brokers and processors
moneysupermarketcom limited uk 100 internet price comparison
travelsupermarketcom limited uk 100 dormant
insuresupermarketcom limited uk 100 financial intermediary services
mortgage 2000 limited uk 100 financial intermediary services
making millionaires limited uk 100 holding company
moneysupermarket limited uk 100 dormant
icero gmbh germany 90 internet price comparison
foomcom limited uk 80 social networking website
inhoco 3429 limited uk 100 dormant
the company is the ultimate parent entity of the group intercompany transactions with wholly owned subsidiaries have been excluded 
from this note as per the exemption offered in ias 24
transactions with key management personnel
there were no outstanding amounts loaned to directors by the company at 31 december 2008
in addition to their salaries the group also provides noncash benefits to directors and executive officers executive officers also 
participate in the group’s share option programme see note 18
during the year simon nixon and paul doughty received dividends from the group totalling £4409807 in relation to the year ended  
31 december 2007 and £3517037 in relation to the year ended 31 december 2008
on 21 may 2008 the group purchased 95294118 deferred shares held by simon nixon for a consideration of £1 see note 16
key management personnel compensation
key management defined as the executive management team received the following compensation during the period
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
shortterm employee benefits       2274 1346
sharebased payments       2820 2375
post employment benefits       9 2
       5103 3723 74 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the group financial statements continued
21 related party transactions continued 
other related party transactions
a number of directors and key management personnel hold positions in other entities that result in them having control or significant 
influence over the financial or operating policies of these entities
a number of these entities transacted with the group in the reporting period
the aggregate value of transactions and outstanding balances relating to key management personnel and entities over which they have 
control or significant influence were as follows
    balance  balance  
  transaction value  transaction value  outstanding  outstanding 
  year ended  year ended  as at  as at  
  31 december  31 december 31 december 31 december 
  2008 2007 2008 2007 
director company £000 £000 £000 £000
s j nixon abacus permanent limited 53 333 221 335
s j nixon virtual processing limited 238 602 216 227
the group provides office space and services to abacus permanent limited and virtual processing limited companies in which  
simon nixon controls over 90 of the voting shares the group recharges these two companies rent and associated services at the 
same levels as it recharges wholly owned subsidiary companies these rates are based on notional open market rents for similar offices  
in the locality in addition the group provides payroll services for these related companies fully recovering salaries paid in the normal 
course of trade with these related companies the group both charges and is charged for mortgage procuration fees the level of these 
fees is at arm’s length and mirrors the going rates in the open market
the aggregate value of transactions and outstanding balances relating to icero gmbh which was not a wholly owned subsidiary of the 
group at the balance sheet date were as follows
    balance  balance  
  transaction value  transaction value  outstanding  outstanding 
  year ended  year ended  as at  as at  
  31 december  31 december 31 december 31 december 
  2008 2007 2008 2007 
  £000 £000 £000 £000
icero gmbh  – – 2017 663
the minority interest share of the loss for the period was £118500 no liability has been recognised in the balance sheet as there is no 
requirement for the minority interest to fund their share of the losses
on 6 september 2007 tim heidfeld was appointed a director of icero gmbh a company that was at that time a wholly owned  
subsidiary of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited on 27 december 2007 moneysupermarketcom financial group limited 
entered into a shareholder’s agreement with tim heidfeld pursuant to which moneysupermarketcom financial group limited transferred 
to tim heidfeld 10 of the shares of icero gmbh in consideration for the payment by tim heidfeld to moneysupermarketcom financial 
group limited of €2500 the shareholder’s agreement includes a contractual obligation on moneysupermarketcom financial group 
limited to acquire all the shares in icero gmbh held by tim heidfeld during the period 2010 to 2012 in predetermined tranches the 
consideration to be paid by moneysupermarketcom financial group limited for the acquisition of the shares in icero gmbh held by  
tim heidfeld will be determined by the financial performance of icero gmbh during the financial years 2009 to 2011 no liability has been 
recognised at the balance sheet date as the consideration to be paid cannot be reliably measured the contingent consideration will be 
recognised when payment becomes probable according to the shareholder’s agreement the maximum consideration that can be paid 
by moneysupermarketcom financial group limited to tim heidfeld for the acquisition of his 10 shareholding in icero gmbh is 
€12500000 for the achievement by icero gmbh of financial performance less than the target financial performance the consideration 
payable by moneysupermarketcom financial group limited to tim heidfeld for the acquisition of the shares held by him in icero gmbh is 
determined by a formula set out in the shareholder’s agreement 
on 25 april 2008 rob budden was appointed a director of foomcom limited on that date rob budden subscribed for 40 ordinary 
shares of £1 each in the capital of foomcom limited representing 20 of the issued share capital of foomcom limited on that date 
rob budden entered into a shareholder’s agreement with making millionaires limited regulating their relationship as shareholders in 
foomcom limited
22 post balance sheet events
there have been no significant post balance sheet events requiring disclosure 75 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
company balance sheet
at 31 december 2008
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
      note £000 £000
fixed assets
investments      4 181688 181688
current assets     
debtors      5 20820 44673
cash at bank and in hand       27994 1620
total current assets       48814 46293
creditors amounts due within one year      6 15168 5009
 
net current assets       33646 41284
net assets       215334 222972
 
capital and reserves      
share capital      8 101 118
share premium      8 171047 170 565
other reserves      8 16942 16923
profit and loss      8 27244 35366
       215334 222972
the financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 24 february 2009 they were signed on its 
behalf by
simon nixon 
paul doughty 76 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the company financial statements
1 accounting policies
basis of preparation
the financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with applicable united kingdom 
accounting standards
no profit and loss account is presented for the company as permitted by section 230 of the companies act 1985 the profit after tax for 
the company was £2190000
the company has taken the exemption in frs1 5a and consequently no cash flow statement is presented for the company
investments
investments are shown at cost less provision for impairment
sharebased payment transactions
the share option programme allows certain employees of the group to acquire shares in the company the fair value of options granted is 
recognised as an employee expense with a corresponding increase in equity the fair value is measured at grant date and spread over the 
period during which the employees become unconditionally entitled to the options the fair value of the options granted is measured using 
an option valuation model taking into account the terms and conditions upon which the options were granted the amount recognised as 
an expense is adjusted to reflect the actual number of share options that vest except where forfeiture is due only to share prices not achieving 
the threshold for vesting subsidiaries are recharged for the amount recognised as share based payments relating to awards for their 
employees the fair value of the recharge is recognised over the vesting period
dividends
dividends receivable are recognised when the company’s right to receive payment is established dividends payable to the company’s 
shareholders are recognised as a liability and deducted from shareholders’ equity in the period in which the shareholders’ right to receive 
payment is established
taxation
tax on the profit or loss for the period comprises current and deferred tax tax is recognised in the profit and loss account except to the 
extent that it relates to items recognised directly in equity in which case it is recognised in equity
current tax is the expected tax payable on the taxable income for the period using tax rates enacted or substantively enacted at the 
balance sheet date and any adjustment to tax payable in respect of previous years
deferred tax is recognised without discounting in respect of all timing differences between the treatment of certain items for taxation and 
accounting purposes which have arisen but not reversed by the balance sheet date except as otherwise required by frs 19
2 sharebased payments
the analysis and disclosures in relation to sharebased payments are given in the group financial statements in note 18
3 staff numbers and cost
the average number of persons employed by the company including directors during the period analysed by category was as follows
       number of number of 
       employees employees 
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007
administration       2 2
the aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows  
       31 december 31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
wages and salaries       787 436
social security costs       99 55
share based payments       1947 1631
       2833 2122 77 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
4 investments
      shares in subsidiary undertakings 
        £000
cost and net book value
at 31 december 2007 and 31 december 2008        181688
the investment comprises £162000000 of cash consideration £2765000 of costs and £16923000 arising from the transfer of net 
assets at book value from a company under common control representing the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial  
group limited
5 debtors
       31 december  31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
amount due from subsidiary undertakings       20812 43120
other debtors       8 –
corporation tax       – 1553
       20820 44673
6 creditors amounts falling due within one year
       31 december  31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
amount owed to subsidiary undertaking       15040 4735
accruals       128 136
amounts owed to related partiesdirectors       – 138
       15168 5009
7 dividends
       31 december  31 december 
       2008 2007 
       £000 £000
declared and paid during the period
equity dividends on ordinary shares  
final dividend for 2007 163p per share       8098 –
interim dividend for 2008 13p per share       6539 –
proposed for approval not recognised as a liability at 31 december
equity dividends on ordinary shares  
final dividend for 2008 22p per share        11107 –
during 2007 the company received dividends of £37000000 from moneysupermarketcom financial group limited 78 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
financial statements
notes to the company financial statements continued
8 capital and reserves
authorised 
 2008 
i
 2007
     thousands £ thousands £
ordinary shares of 002p each     1154706 230941 1154706 230941
deferred shares of 002p each     95294 19059 95294  19059
     1250000 250000 1250000 250000
the following rights attached to the shares in issue during the period
ordinary shares
the owners of ordinary shares were entitled to returns of capital receive a dividend and vote 
during the period the group issued 8049996 ordinary shares upon the exercising of unapproved options by a number of senior management
deferred shares
the owners of deferred shares were not entitled to any returns of capital receive a dividend nor vote
on 21 may 2008 the group purchased 95294118 deferred shares from simon nixon for an aggregate consideration of £1 and 
subsequently cancelled them
issued and fully paid
    ordinary a ordinary b ordinary deferred 
number of shares    shares shares shares shares total
at 22 june 2007   – – 2 – 2
shares issued upon acquisition of moneysupermarketcom 
 financial group limited   6758 4796 85498 – 97052
at 29 june 2007   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
5000 for one share split   33790000 23980000 427500000  – 485270000
at 9 july 2007   33790000 23980000 427500000 – 485270000
conversion of b ordinary shares   332205882 – 427500000 95294118 –
redesignation of a ordinary shares   23980000 23980000 – – –
issued on listing   105882000 – – – 105882000
issued on listing in relation to the share incentive plan  948184 – – – 948184
at 31 december 2007   496806066 – – 95294118 592100184
   
purchase and cancellation of deferred shares  – – – 95294118 95294118 
issued on exercising of unapproved share options  8049996 – – – 8049996
at 31 december 2008   504856062 – – – 504856062
 
    ordinary a ordinary b ordinary deferred 
£    shares shares shares shares total
at 22 june 2007   – – 2 – 2
shares issued upon acquisition of moneysupermarketcom      
 financial group limited   6758 4796 85498 – 97052
at 29 june 2007   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
5000 for one share split   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
at 9 july 2007   6758 4796 85500 – 97054
conversion of b ordinary shares   66441 – 85500 19059 –
redesignation of a ordinary shares   4796 4796 – – –
issued on listing   21176 – – – 21176
issued on listing in relation to the share incentive plan  190 – – – 190
at 31 december 2007   99361 – – 19059 118420
purchase and cancellation of deferred shares  – – – 19059 19059 
issued on exercising of unapproved share options  1610 – – – 1610
at 31 december 2008   100971 – – – 100971 79 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
8 capital and reserves continued
the group has a number of share option schemes under which options to subscribe for ordinary shares in the company have been 
granted to certain executives and employees see note 18 of the group financial statements
other reserves
      share other profit and 
      premium reserves loss 
      £000 £000 £000
shares issued      179927 16923 –
total recognised profit in the period      – – 31767
share based payment      – – 3599
expenses on share issue      9362 – –
at 31 december 2007      170565 16923 35366
shares issued      482 – –
total recognised profit in period      – – 2190
equity dividends      – – 14637
purchase and cancellation of deferred shares      – 19 –
share based payment      – – 4325
at 31 december 2008      171047 16942 27244
other reserves represents the merger reserve for £16923000 generated upon the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group 
limited by the company as discussed in note 3 of the group financial statements and a capital redemption reserve for £19000 arising 
from the acquisition of 95294118 deferred shares of 002p by the company from simon nixon
9 related party transactions
the company has taken the exemption in frs 83 not to disclose transactions with other group companies 80 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
general
shareholder information
registered office and registered number
moneysupermarket house
st david’s park
ewloe
chester ch5 3uz
no 6160943
telephone   44 01244 665700
website   wwwmoneysupermarketcom
company secretary
darren drabble
financial advisorsstockbrokers
credit suisse securities europe limited
one cabot square
london e14 4qj
ubs limited
1 finsbury avenue
london ec2m 2pp
auditors
kpmg audit plc
st james’ square
manchester m2 6ds
solicitors
herbert smith
exchange house
primrose street
london ec2a 2hs
principal bankers
lloyds tsb bank plc
city office
po box 1000 bx1 1lt
financial pr
tulchan communications
sixth floor
kildare house
3 dorset rise
london ec4y 8en
registrar
capita registrars
northern house
woodsome park
fenay bridge
huddersfield hd8 0la
telephone  0871 200 1536 uk
 calls cost from 10p per minute plus network extras 
 44 0208 639 3399 overseas 
email moneysupermarketcapitaregistrarscom
enquiring about your shareholding
if you want to ask or need any information about your 
shareholding please contact our registrar see contact  
details above
 
alternatively if you have internet access you can access the 
group’s shareholder portal at wwwmoneysupermarketsharescom 
where you can amongst other things view details of your 
shareholding set up or amend a dividend mandate and update 
your address details
investor relations website
the investor relations section of our website  
wwwmoneysupermarketcom provides further information for 
anyone interested in the group in addition to the annual report 
and accounts and share price company announcements including 
the half year and full year results announcements and associated 
presentations are also published there
dividend mandates
if you wish to have dividends paid directly into a bank or building 
society account you should contact our registrar see contact 
details on the left for a dividend mandate form or visit the group’s 
shareholder portal at wwwmoneysupermarketsharescom where 
you can set up or amend a dividend mandate this method of 
payment removes the risk of delay or loss of dividend cheques in 
the post and ensures that your account is credited on the due date
dividend reinvestment plan drip
you can now choose to reinvest dividends received to purchase 
further shares in the company through a drip a drip application 
form is available from our registrar see contact details on the left
share dealing service
you can buy or sell the company’s shares in a simple and 
convenient way via the capita share dealing service either online 
wwwcapitadealcom or by telephone 0870 458 4577
please note that the directors of the company are not seeking to 
encourage shareholders to either buy or sell shares in the 
company shareholders in any doubt about what action to take are 
recommended to seek financial advice from an independent 
financial advisor authorised by the financial services and markets 
act 2000
electronic communications
you can elect to receive shareholder communications electronically 
by writing to our registrar capita registrars shareholder 
administration services 34 beckenham road beckenham kent 
br3 9za this will save on printing and distribution costs creating 
environmental benefits when you register you will be sent a 
notification to say when shareholder communications are available on 
our website and you will be provided with a link to that information  declaration date of 2008 final dividend   25 february 2009
announcement of 2008 full year results   25 february 2009
exdividend date of 2008 final dividend   25 march 2009
record date of 2008 final dividend   27 march 2009
annual general meeting   16 april 2009
interim management statement     16 april 2009
payment date of 2008 final dividend   1 may 2009
half year end         30 june 2009
announcement of 2009 half year results   july 2009
full year end     31 december 2009
announcement of 2009 full year results     february 2010
 exact dates to be confirmed
further copies of this annual report are available from the company’s registered office or may be accessed through the group’s  
website wwwmoneysupermarketcom 
forward looking statements
this annual report includes statements that are forward looking in nature forward looking statements involve known and unknown  
risks assumptions uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results performance or achievements of the group to 
be materially different from any future results performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements 
except as required by the listing rules and applicable law the company undertakes no obligation to update revise or change any 
forward looking statements to reflect events or developments occurring after the date of this annual report 
general
financial calendar
the group exists to help customers save time and money 
product providers offer customers a wide range of insurance 
money travel and home services products to choose from as 
the uk’s leading price comparison website the group provides 
customers with a free online service to compare products and to 
find the one most suited to their needs
the group provides its price comparison services to customers 
via two market leading brands moneysupermarketcom and 
travelsupermarketcom
business overview
02 highlights
04 our model
06 insurance
08 money 
1 0 travel 
12 home services 
business review
14 chairman’s statement
16 chief executive’s reports
22 financial and business review
32 principal risks and  
uncertainties
management
34 board of directors and  
company secretary
corporate responsibility
36 corporate responsibility  
report
corporate governance
37 directors’ report
42 corporate governance report
46 audit committee report
47 nomination committee report
48 directors’ remuneration report
53 independent auditor’s report
financial statements
54 group financial statements
58 notes to the group financial 
statements
75 company financial statements
76 notes to the company 
financial statements
general
80 shareholder information
81 financial calendar
our business
contents moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
moneysupermarketcom group plc   annual report 2008
moneysupermarketcom group plc – telephone 01244 665700 – web wwwmoneysupermarketcom
registered in england no 6160943 registered office moneysupermarket house st david’s park ewloe chester ch5 3uz


Summary:
 16 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review 
chief executive’s report
in the year ended 31 december 2008 the group has 
performed well despite the challenging trading conditions 
that have been driven by the tightening credit markets 
and downturn in the economy group revenue has 
increased year on year by 10 from £1629m to  
£1788m and the insurance travel and home services 
verticals have all continued to grow helping to 
compensate for the decline seen in the money vertical 
adjusted ebitda declined in the year by 9 to £484m 
principally due to further investment in the group’s online 
offering and the increased customer acquisition costs in 
the insurance vertical the group remained strongly cash 
generative and ended 2008 with no debt and the cash 
balance increasing during the year by £195m to £735m 
we believe this demonstrates the resilience of our 
diversified business model in these difficult economic 
times 
insurance is now the largest vertical in the group 
accounting for 43 of group revenue revenue  
grew in the year by 38 to £777m 2007 £564m  
albeit at a slowing rate as the year went on this was 
driven both by improved commercial arrangements 
with providers and increased visitor numbers that were 
20 higher than in 2007 we maintained a strong market 
position in a sector which continued to show growth 
during the year despite the increasing level of competition 
from other online aggregators who spent significantly on 
television advertising and bid aggressively on search 
engines we believe we still have the most complete 
insurance comparison engine in the uk offering our 
customers the widest choice of providers together with a 
very strong brand 
during the course of 2008 and in particular in the second 
half of the year the money vertical felt the impact of the 
deepening global banking crisis revenue in the year 
declined by 10 to £683m 2007 £760m as credit 
markets continued to tighten with the uk consumer 
seeking to reduce debt and providers continuing to 
tighten their lending criteria revenue declines were most 
notable in the loans and mortgages channels visitors to 
the money vertical were however 27 higher in 2008 
than in 2007 demonstrating the value of the website to 
our customers particularly in times of uncertainty
the impact of the credit crunch and the worsening 
economic conditions were particularly felt in the secured 
loans market which contracted substantially in july 
barclays took the decision to close its subsidiary first 
plus to new business with effect from august first plus 
had provided the group with an exclusive market leading 
product and represented approximately 10 of group 
revenue at the time it closed to new business although 
the group was able to replace some of the revenue lost 
following the withdrawal by barclays the continued 
tightening of the supply of available credit throughout the 
year meant that revenue from secured lending in the 
second half of the year was significantly lower than the 
first half
savings showed the strongest growth in the money 
vertical with revenue increasing by approximately 80  
in the year as customers sought to spread their cash 
balances across a number of accounts to take advantage 
of the protection afforded by the financial services 
authority compensation scheme and to find the best 
returns as interest rates fell
the travel vertical performed well with revenue increasing 
in the year by 27 to £191m 2007 £150m growth 
slowed over the second half of the year as customers 
sought to reduce discretionary expenditure revenue 
growth was driven by increased visitors to the vertical 
which were 32 higher in 2008 than in 2007 
the home services vertical delivered a strong 
performance in 2008 with revenue increasing 63 in  
the year to £74m 2007 £45m for a large part of the 
year utility prices were increasing prompting customers 
to shop around for the best available deal the home 
services vertical is now well established and experienced 
visitor growth in the year of 97
in september 2008 the group launched its own shopping 
channel whilst the group has had a shopping channel 
on the website for some time this was previously 
provided by a third party this limited the group’s ability 
to drive visitors to its website from search engines and 
therefore our ability to grow this channel the group now 
has its own product which gives an additional 75000 
pages to be indexed by search engines enabling results 
from our shopping channel to appear in the natural 
listings on search engines increasing revenue
mortgage 2000 the group’s offline business which 
specialises in supporting mortgage intermediaries 
continued to decline throughout the year reflecting  
the declining mortgage market the group is currently 
reviewing its options for this business
the group’s strategy in 2008
despite the current challenging economic conditions  
the group remains well placed to respond to the 
continuing structural shift in consumers’ and providers’ 
behaviour as consumers spend increasing amounts of 
time online and their confidence in and familiarity with 
transacting over the internet increases
we believe the group provides the largest and most 
effective price comparison marketplace in the uk 
matching providers with customers who having 
compared the market are ready to make a purchase  
thereby improving the focus and efficiency of providers’ 
marketing spend 17 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
simon nixon
revenue
£1788m 2007 £1629m
increased by 10 18 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review
chief executive’s report continued
the group’s strategy to capitalise on this structural shift 
has focused on three main areas in the last financial year
customer focus
the group is committed to saving its customers time and 
money this sits at the heart of the group and its 
innovation and product development each new website 
development new tool or new product that the group 
launches is intended to save its customers time and 
money support the customer in his or her purchasing 
decision or enhance the customer experience
this constant focus on placing the customer first helps 
ensure that the group remains at the front of customers’ 
minds and is central to how the group is run
innovation and product development
the group has continued to invest in innovation and 
product development in 2008 and will continue to do so 
customers see the benefits of this innovation in enhanced 
website functionality improvements in existing products 
and the addition of new products and features this focus 
on innovation and product development ensures that the 
customer experience is continually enhanced and the 
group remains their first choice for price comparison in 
the uk by enhancing the customer experience and 
providing support to customers in their purchasing 
decision providers benefit from increased conversion 
rates and a more efficient marketing spend
examples of new products and services introduced in 
2008 include
the launch of a ‘policy wizard’ tool in motor insurance •	
which enables customers to find the policy that exactly 
meets their needs and see prices update in real time 
this significantly improves the usability of the motor 
insurance channel and will improve providers’ 
conversion rates
the look and feel of the travel website was refreshed •	
to make it more inspirational to really excite customers 
about the prospect of travelling or holidaying and to 
make it more intuitive to use this was initially released 
to customers as an alternative or ‘beta’ version and 
will be fully live during 2009
the group integrated hotel reviews from trip advisor •	
and added far more photos videos and content into 
its travel website
the group launched a new credit cards channel  •	
and enhanced the loans and savings channels  
both of which now include expert video and  
user reviews all substantially improving the  
customer experience
the group extended the question set within its  •	
motor and home insurance channels to enable 
customers to obtain a more tailored quote for  
their personal circumstances
in september 2008 the group launched its own •	
shopping channel this channel is already performing 
well and the group is planning to further improve its 
functionality to make it a market leading proposition
brand awareness
marketing and pr drive new customers to the group’s 
website and ensure that the group remains at the front of 
customers’ minds the group has continued to invest 
heavily in its brand as part of a highly focused marketing 
strategy this has helped the group to increase the 
number of visitors attracted to its website by 32 to 
1201m 2007 910m and has helped to ensure the 
group remains the uk’s leading price comparison 
website the success of this strategy is reflected in  
the increased online brand recognition of 
moneysupermarketcom to 80 in september 2008  
from 73 in november 2007 
the group continues to supply best buy tables to the 
personal finance sections of a number of national 
newspapers including the telegraph the times and  
the independent and in 2008 spent £190m on television 
advertising 2007 £170m with increased competition 
from other online aggregators most notably in motor 
insurance the group’s brand remains one of its most 
important and valuable assets
simon nixon 19 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008 20 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
business review
chief executive’s report continued
before i outline the group’s strategy in 2009 i would  
like to thank simon for his help and support during my 
transition to chief executive officer i very much look 
forward to working with him in his new role where he will 
continue to drive product development and innovation 
across the group 
the group’s strategy in 2009
simon’s chief executive report described the group’s 
strategy during 2008 and in particular the focus on 
customers innovation and product development and 
brand awareness 
these cornerstones of the group’s strategy in 2008 
which have served the group well in its development  
and growth to date will continue to form a major part of 
the plans for 2009 however the unprecedented global 
financial crisis and the subsequent uk recession means 
the group faces a very different marketplace to that 
which it has encountered in the past 
our immediate task is to reconfigure our business for  
the lower levels of demand we are seeing due to the 
recession and to concentrate on managing our existing 
business better 2009 will be a difficult year and we 
cannot assume 2010 will be any easier more so now than 
ever the group must remain flexible and responsive to 
the changing market conditions and changing customer 
needs
accordingly the group’s priorities for 2009 will focus on 
the following areas each of which interacts with the other 
as part of an overall strategy
marketing 
moneysupermarketcom and travelsupermarketcom are 
both market leading brands with online brand recognition 
at their highest ever levels as a result of the major 
marketing and pr investment by the group over the past 
three years in 2009 the group will continue to invest 
significantly in its brands and will focus on building more 
innovative and effective communication with its 
customers making the marketing investment and the 
group’s brands work harder will be a major challenge  
for the business this year as we seek to optimise our 
marketing spend
innovation and product development
continued innovation and product development remain 
key to the group’s strategy in spite of the downturn 
customers are already benefiting from a more 
personalised search capability across the website in the 
form of customer reviews richer content and smart 
search tools and wizards such innovations not only save 
customers money but also time 
the group will continue to focus in 2009 on innovation 
and product development with the aim of saving 
customers more time and money the group will also 
invest in developing its existing systems both to simplify 
the customer proposition and to make more of what the 
group already has 
the group will further look at and test innovative new 
opportunities to utilise and leverage its core price 
comparison competencies in markets different to  
those in which the group currently operates 
insight led
the group will focus in 2009 on using its data better and 
developing tools and capabilities from which it can drive 
decision making in a challenging market it is essential 
that as an online business the group uses every piece of 
information effectively
as the group becomes more analytical in its approach 
the insight and knowledge it gathers about its business 
customers and providers will enable the group to 
optimise its decision making and to monitor its 
performance against its goals this will ensure the  
group is able to manage its business better in the  
short medium and long term
customer focus
saving customers time and money remains at the very 
heart of the group’s philosophy and the group will 
continue to focus on this during 2009 and beyond  
the group has started to build a single base of customer 
knowledge and as a business recognises the need to  
be much more inquisitive about customer behaviours and 
attitudes so that the group can respond to them with 
better service and more tailored products 
as the uk continues in recession and customers need  
to find more ways to save money the group’s focus on 
customers will be more important than ever
outlook in 2009
the short term outlook is not good revenue to date this 
year is significantly down on last year entirely due to the 
recession we will manage ourselves accordingly
however the group has many important strengths 
including a diversified business market leading brands 
high brand recognition with customers and a motivated 
workforce i am confident that the successful execution of 
the group’s strategy in 2009 will position the business for 
long term sustainable growth
peter plumb 21 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
21 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2008
peter plumb