moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
delivering more ﬁnance services





 business overview
highlights
contents
1 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
dividend per share pence
 excluding special dividends
574p  27
adjusted earnings per share pence
91p  29
£248m  48
group adjusted ebitda £m group profit after tax £m
£665m  26
group revenue £m
£2048m  13 
2009 2010 2011 2012
1369
1489
1810
2048
2009 2010 2011 2012
360
410
525
665
2009 2010 2011 2012
35
383
453
574
2009 2010 2011 2012
46
52
71
91
2009 2010 2011 2012
19
77
168
248
business overview
1 highlights
2 business overview
6 our business model
7 our strategy
8 digital marketing
10 data
12 brand
business review
14 chairman’s statement
16 chief executive’s report
19 financial and business review
26 principal risks and uncertainties
28 corporate responsibility report
management
30 board of directors and  
company secretary
corporate governance
32 directors’ report
36 corporate governance report
40 audit committee report
41 nomination committee report
42 directors’ remuneration report
53 independent auditor’s report
financial statements
54 consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income
55 consolidated statement of  
financial position
56 consolidated statement of  
changes in equity
57 consolidated statement of  
cash flows
58 notes to the consolidated  
financial statements
82 company balance sheet
83 notes to the company financial 
statements
general
88 shareholder information
89 financial calendar





 business overview
2 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
2
more choicemore brands
moneysupermarketcom provides its money saving and personal 
finance services across a vast range of different product areas 
including motor insurance credit cards loans home insurance 
energy and package holidays this ensures that we are able to 
help our customers make the most of their money no matter what 
their needs are it also ensures that we can work with a vast range 
of different product providers and help them to market their 
products to our customers in an efficient manner 
money
revenue
£574m
9
revenue
£1204m
1 7
insurance
whether it is getting approval for a loan or credit card 
or getting a decent rate for their savings it is not an 
easy time for british families we help our customers 
search for the right deal for their needs from over 25 
credit card providers over 30 loan providers and over 
60 savings providers we also help our customers 
search for the right deal for their mortgage current 
account and debt solution needs amongst others
moneysupermarketcom works with more insurance 
product providers and delivers more insurance 
quotes to our customers than any of our competitors 
our insurance business includes motor home life 
and travel insurance amongst others at the end of 
december 2012 we compared over 130 car 
insurance brands making it even easier for our 
customers to find the right policy at the right price  3 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
revenue
£131m
2
travel home services
travelsupermarketcom helps holidaymakers make 
the most of their holiday budget our customers can 
find everything from package holidays to flights 
hotels and car hire we search more than 650 low 
cost and chartered airlines more than 300000 
hotels and thousands of individual package holidays 
making it even easier for our customers to find their 
perfect holiday destination
with energy prices rising steeply the electricity 
and gas bill is one that many families dread 
moneysupermarketcom makes it easier for families 
in the uk to get a much better deal on their energy 
needs our customers can search for the right tariff 
for their needs from 18 energy providers if they need 
extra help to switch their supplier we have a phone
based support service to guide our customers 
through the process
revenue
£114m
24 business overview
4 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
more savings 
what’s new
tips
articles 5 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
introducing moneysavingexpertcom
in september 2012 moneysupermarketcom acquired 
moneysavingexpertcom for consideration of up to £925m 
with an initial consideration of £655m paid on completion and 
deferred consideration of up to £270m payable dependent in 
part on the achievement of certain nonﬁnancial performance 
criteria and in part at moneysupermarketcom’s discretion
moneysavingexpertcom was founded in 2003 by personal 
ﬁnance journalist martin lewis it operates one of the leading 
uk based personal ﬁnance journalism websites providing its 
users with free online access to a wide range of services and 
information related to saving money and personal ﬁnance 
including guides tips tools and techniques
moneysavingexpertcom’s website is complemented by features 
such as a weekly email newsletter a user forum and bespoke 
online tools moneysavingexpertcom also provides information 
on and promotes topical consumer focused issues such as 
reclaiming payment protection insurance
it primarily derives revenue from the moneysavingexpertcom 
website and weekly email newsletters through revenuesharing 
arrangements with intermediary providers such as price 
comparison websites and to a lesser extent through direct 
arrangements with product providers
editor’s 
choice
 emails
education
why we are stronger together
moneysupermarketcom and moneysavingexpertcom have 
been long standing partners working together for a number 
of years with the common goal of helping consumers make 
the most of their money
moneysavingexpertcom is rightly trusted by its users as a 
source of valuable information and views in today’s complex 
ﬁnancial world by joining forces together we will be able to 
reach more people and help more people to save more money
 
we will help moneysavingexpertcom reach a wider 
audience by improving the visibility and accessibility of the 
moneysavingexpertcom website to consumers whilst also 
enhancing the user experience
moneysavingexpertcom will help moneysupermarketcom 
broaden the range of guides tips tools and techniques we offer 
encouraging even more of our customers to ﬁnd a better deal 
and make the most of their money business overview
6 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
customers providers
brand
pages 1213
data
pages 1011
digital
marketing
pages 89
more support more 
opportunitymore efficient
for our customers
times are tough out there for british households last 
year we saved our customers £1 billion it’s a huge 
amount but we want even more people to save even 
more money and feel great with our help we give more 
choice to our customers helping them to save money on 
all of their household bills by providing a free easy to use 
online service so they can search for a wide range of 
products in one place and ﬁnd the product most suited 
to their needs our size means we are able to offer our 
customers exclusive marketleading deals including 
some they can’t even get direct from providers
for our providers
we offer our providers an efﬁcient and costeffective way 
to reach considerable volumes of informed customers 
our customers across all of our channels are actively 
looking for products and are ready to purchase this 
enables our providers to target their marketing spend in 
an effective efﬁcient and completely measurable way 
and allows them to reach a highly targeted audience
our revenue comes predominantly from fees paid to us 
by product providers when a customer clicks through to 
their website and purchases a product it is a success
based marketing fee
we utilise our core strengths in 
digital marketing managing data 
and building our brand to help both 
our customers and our providers to 
make the most of their money
our business model 7 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
7 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
more innovation
our mission and strategy has served us 
well over the past four years we call it 
our ‘house model’ and it’s on just about 
every wall of our offices our mission is 
to help every household make the most 
of their money looking ahead to 2013 
we see no reason to change either our 
mission or our vision
strategic objective progress next steps
best shop
be the easiest way for customers to shop 
for insurance money home services and 
travel products
we continued our it investment 
programme during 2012 the result is that 
we ﬁnished the year with ﬁve of our key 
shops being voted by an independent third 
party as the best shop compared to our 
competitors
our team are focused and resourced to 
move all of our core shops to the market 
leading position over the next 18 months
preferred partner
be the best way for our providers to 
acquire new customers
our independence and dedicated 
commercial teams have continued to 
build strong relationships with our 
providers during 2012 our annual 
provider satisfaction survey shows that 
many of our providers are either satisﬁed 
or very satisﬁed with our service 
particularly insurance providers
as a business we constantly challenge 
ourselves to add value to our providers 
in 2012 we built a new insight and data 
analytics team who we expect will build 
deeper relationships with our providers in 
2013 and beyond
data
use data to help customers save more 
money
we look after customer data for more than 
14m customers we spent 2012 building a 
new insight and data analytics team who 
will be able to provide customers with 
money saving information targeted to 
their interests and needs
we believe in putting customers in charge 
of their data in 2013 we will further 
enhance the ability for customers to update 
all aspects of their data including contact 
preferences
build brand
be an everyday brand for our customers moneysupermarketcom is the most 
trusted brand in our category something 
we are very proud of and something we 
intend to preserve in 2012 we welcomed 
moneysavingexpertcom to our group 
a brand focused on ﬁghting the 
consumer’s corner
the group expanded its team of experts 
and journalists during 2012 with the single 
objective of writing more guides and 
content to help customers save more 
money in 2013 our brands are now known 
for much more than just motor insurance a 
theme we expect to continue during 2013 
our strategy 8 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
8
search go
more expertisemore 
experiencemore 
talent
our digital marketing and content team help customers 
find us on the internet and deliver engaging content 
about money saving and personal finance helping our 
customers find the right product for their needs and 
make the most of their money
digital marketing 9 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
9 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
our experts have many years’ experience 
in consumer finance and insurance 
industries many of the content team 
previously worked for the major national 
newspapers meaning they can draw on 
their extensive knowledge to make saving 
money much easier for families in the uk
our experts
customers visit us because 
we are a trusted source 
of useful and engaging 
money saving content
in 2012 we invested signiﬁcantly in strengthening our 
digital and content marketing teams our digital 
specialists help us to maintain our high visibility in 
search engines and our journalists create engaging 
useful articles guides and tips for our customers as 
a result we have further enhanced our reputation as 
a leading destination for the best money saving 
information on the internet
digital specialists
our digital team includes both organic performance 
specialists search engine optimisation and performance 
media specialists search engine marketing
the organic performance team ensured that in 2012 we 
maintained our visibility across all of the keywords in the natural 
listings on search engines for our core channels helping our 
customers who are looking to save money ﬁnd us easily when 
they search for products on the internet
the performance media team manage the bidding process 
across millions of keywords on search engines to maximise our 
paid media investment and ensure we maintain our visibility 
across our chosen keywords in the sponsored listings on 
search engines 
content specialists
our content team is responsible for creating original articles 
guides and providing tips to help our customers save money and 
feel great sorting out the family ﬁnances can feel like a complex 
and daunting task the aim of the professional journalists in our 
content team is to help our customers feel more empowered to 
make decisions about the products and services that will suit 
them best and provide them with the most value
“ according to moneysupermarketcom 
research a third of adults in the uk 
feel stressed about money every single 
day the articles on our site can help 
to unpick the complexities of 
managing your family finances and 
take control of your money” 10 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
10
more datamore 
opportunitymore 
targeted 
we have built up an extensive customer 
database over years of successful customer 
service this gives us access to a huge amount 
of insight about our customers their needs and 
their preferences helping us to provide our 
customers with better informed and more 
targeted deals 
data 11 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
11 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
in 2012 we appointed a new head of 
insight and customer engagement and 
invested in strengthening our team of 
highly skilled data professionals to 
significantly develop our talents in this 
area we have the right tools in place to 
keep helping our customers save money 
and feel great – in a way that suits them
‘investment in our data 
capabilities’
we have more than 14 million individual 
customer records on our database each week 
we are able to talk to our customers about the 
best money saving deals currently in the 
market and how we can help them to navigate 
the complex world of personal nance
“ we continue to invest in developing 
our data and customer relationship 
management capabilities so we can 
help our customers find the right 
deals – especially suited to them and 
their families’ needs”
customer relationship management
our data and customer relationship management 
teams are constantly looking to understand how we 
can improve our engagement with our customers and 
how we can use our customer knowledge and insight 
to help them save even more money 
we use the information customers provide to us to highlight the 
articles tips products and services which are most likely to be 
of interest to them at any particular time
each week we compile more than 200 different versions of 
our popular email ‘more money’ rather than sending one 
blanket email to all of our customers we make sure that 
only the relevant articles tips and product details are sent 
based on what we know about our customers ensuring 
this communication is personalised to their interests
we also utilise the information our customers have provided to 
us in relation to their motor insurance needs to communicate to 
them at the time of renewal with new quotes for their motor 
insurance this ensures we are able to help our customers with 
their motor insurance in a personalised manner at the point they 
are looking for a new motor insurance policy 12 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
more savings more 
range more 
awareness
save money feel great our brand building 
activity including advertising and pr aims 
to build consumer trust and celebrate the 
benefits of saving with us
brand 13 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
13 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
2012 saw us introduce more information 
in our tv advertising campaigns about 
the different ways we can help our 
customers save money on their 
household bills we kicked off the year 
with our ‘vegas’ campaign where the 
hero ‘brian’ saved on everything from 
energy to credit cards before ending the 
year with ‘gary’ as the £1000 man who 
managed to save £1000 on all his 
household bills
‘you’re so moneysupermarket’
our brand building activity 
ensures that more customers 
visit us to save money than any 
of our competitors
“ in 2012 by using 
moneysupermarketcom british 
households saved £1 billion that’s a 
huge amount of money and something 
our customers should feel very proud 
of we want to celebrate just how good 
it feels to save in these tough times”
our advertising and public relations activity builds 
brand recognition and brand trust with our customers 
so that more people know they can save money on 
their household bills with us and trust us to help them 
make those savings 
you’re so moneysupermarket
in 2012 we continued to celebrate the amazing feeling 
you get when you save money with our ‘you’re so 
moneysupermarket’ campaign we evolved the campaign to 
focus on more than motor insurance showing the uk that we 
can help them save money on a wide range of their household 
bills times are pretty tough right now for families in the uk 
and comparing the cost of household bills can make a real 
difference to every day family budgets
public relations – building trust in our expertise
our public relations campaigns ensure that our expert 
spokespeople are regularly on tv online and in the 
newspapers helping our customers to make the most of 
their money this helps to build trust in our brand and 
position moneysupermarketcom as the goto destination 
for all of our customers’ money saving needs in 2012 
moneysupermarketcom was in the news more than 3000 
times and was on the broadcast airwaves talking about 
money saving issues for more than 40 hours in total  14 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
chairman’s statement
2012 has been another year of solid progress for the group 
we continued to invest heavily in our brand our marketing 
our site and our people the strong ﬁnancial results reﬂect 
this commitment and the consistency with which we have 
followed and executed our strategy this will remain 
unchanged in 2013
results and strategic progress
2012 was another good year for the group as revenue 
increased by 13 from £1810m to £2048m and adjusted 
ebitda increased by 26 from £525m to £665m our largest 
verticals money and insurance delivered solid growth during 
the year with revenue in the money vertical increasing by 9 
from £526m to £57 4m and revenue in the insurance vertical 
increasing by 17 from £1027m to £1204m
together with the signiﬁcant growth achieved in our home 
services vertical and the return to growth of our travel vertical 
in the second half of the year these results demonstrate the 
continuing strength and diversity of our business model
the group also completed its ﬁrst major strategic acquisition 
with the purchase in september of moneysavingexpertcom 
for consideration of up to £925m moneysavingexpertcom 
operates one of the leading personal ﬁnance journalism 
websites and their principal activity is the provision of 
consumer information in relation to saving money and 
personal ﬁnance it has a very strong brand and its strategy of 
helping the consumer ﬁrst complements the group’s strategy 
of ‘helping every household to make the most of their money’ 
during 2012 we continued to make signiﬁcant investments in 
our marketing strategy including the strengthening of our 
digital marketing capability and the continuation of our ‘you’re 
so moneysupermarket’ advertising campaign both of which 
helped to drive visitor growth to the group’s websites we 
have continued the ‘you’re so moneysupermarket’ theme in 
the early part of 2013 with the launch of our latest advertising 
campaign demonstrating how we continue to help our 
customers save money on their household bills
more growthmore 
success
gerald corbett  
chairman
dividend
having reviewed the cash required by the business and the 
performance of the group the company paid an interim 
dividend of 18p per ordinary share on 14 september 2012 
this represented an increase of 20 on the interim dividend 
excluding the special dividend paid in 2011 and is consistent 
with the company’s progressive dividend policy 
during the year the business continued to generate 
cash and despite the completion of the acquisition of 
moneysavingexpertcom where the group paid £350m in 
cash on completion we ended the year with cash balances 
of £187m with the business growing the board is 
recommending a ﬁnal dividend of 394p per ordinary share 
representing an increase of 30 on the ﬁnal dividend in 2011
this is consistent with the company’s progressive dividend 
policy and is a statement of the board’s conﬁdence in the 
company’s earning progression in the year ahead if 
approved by shareholders at the forthcoming annual general 
meeting this will bring the total dividend for the year to 574p 
per ordinary share and will be paid on 26 april 2013 to all 
shareholders on the register at 22 march 2013
outlook
the new year has begun positively and whilst we remain 
alert to the continuing uncertainty in the wider economic 
environment including the impact of the ‘funding for lending’ 
scheme on our money business we are conﬁdent that we will 
continue to grow in 2013 our great brands including 
moneysavingexpertcom strong market positions experienced 
people and scale are the basis on which our business is built 
and will remain key strengths in the coming year
governance and the board
since the group listed on the london stock exchange in 
2007 our board and executive governance structures have 
continually developed and improved we believe that good 
governance reduces risk and adds value to the business
as such the board is committed to high standards of 
corporate governance and supports the principles laid  15 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
“ 2012 has been another year 
of solid progress for the 
group we continued to 
invest heavily in our brand 
our marketing our site and 
our people the strong 
 nancial results re ect 
this commitment and the 
consistency with which we 
have followed and executed 
our strategy this will 
remain unchanged in 2013”
down in the uk corporate governance code published 
in june 2010 by the financial reporting council ‘code’
 
the corporate governance report together with the audit 
committee report nomination committee report and the 
directors’ remuneration report on pages 36 to 52 describe 
how the principles of the code are applied by the group and 
reports on the group’s compliance with the code’s provisions
during the last three years since the appointment of bruce 
carnegiebrown as an additional nonexecutive director 
the board has remained stable and focused on growing the 
business the board has a good mix of experience skills 
structure and balance in order to support the group’s 
growth aspirations
as part of the board’s development bruce has taken over the 
chair of our remuneration committee from michael wemms 
michael has done a good job for the last ﬁve years and we 
thank him for his contribution
as with last year and in accordance with the code all of our 
directors will retire at this year’s annual general meeting 
and being eligible will offer themselves for reelection
employees 
our results this year reﬂect the dedication and quality of our 
employees which continues to be a core strength of the 
group on behalf of the board i would like to thank peter 
plumb his management team and all the employees for their 
achievements during the year i would also like to welcome 
our new colleagues from moneysavingexpertcom to the 
group and look forward to supporting their growth during 
2013 and beyond 
annual general meeting 
the annual general meeting will be held at 1100am on 
wednesday 17 april 2013 at the leverhulme stand chester 
racecourse the racecourse chester ch1 2ly and i look 
forward to seeing you there
gerald corbett  
chairman 16 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
2012 has been a good year for moneysupermarketcom
we saved british households £1 billion in 2012 that’s over 
£200 for each of the one in ﬁve british households who 
purchased a product through moneysupermarketcom last 
year we are proud of having achieved the goal we set 
ourselves back in 2009
much has happened since i joined the business in 2009 
reassuringly our strategy hasn’t needed to change and our 
market continues to grow as more and more customers gain 
the conﬁdence to shop for insurance ﬁnancial travel and 
home services products online i see no reason to expect 
this trend to change in the future
our business philosophy is the foundation of everything we do
 be the easiest way for our customers to shop for products 
 be the best way for our providers to acquire new customers
it is against this that i look back and summarise our 
achievements during 2012
at the heart of our business lies the curiosity of how to help 
more families save more money by shopping online to 
reduce their household bills and make the most of their 
money
marketing plays a major role in attracting more visitors to our 
site but it is the site design the expert content the 
presentation of product options and features and the ease 
of navigation that really makes the difference in helping 
customers ﬁnd the right product for them and then clicking 
through to purchase from the provider
therefore in 2012 we invested an additional £6m to 
accelerate our it development programme as part of our 
‘best shop’ strategy credit cards was the ﬁrst channel to 
be launched on the new platform this proved the platform’s 
capabilities and robustness a key advantage is the new 
platform delivers each channel automatically as a mobile 
friendly service no matter what device a customer is using 
we can now retire old legacy infrastructure and simplify our 
more insight more  
opportunitymore innovation
it operation while improving the shopping experience for 
our customers
our technology investments have also supported our 
relationships with providers having consolidated our 
customer information into a single customer view and built 
a new analytics team around the data we can now 
understand customer trends and behaviour in greater detail 
this will ensure we can tailor our services to our customers 
in a more targeted manner and help our providers gain 
unique insights into our customers this is an example of 
how we challenge ourselves to add value to the service we 
deliver to our providers
to help more customers make the best and most informed 
decision possible about which products to purchase we 
expanded our team of expert content writers thereby 
increasing the quantity and quality of help and guidance on 
our site we have also expanded our telephone support 
service hours and introduced live chat this is all part of our 
strategy to make moneysupermarketcom the easiest way 
for customers to understand research and purchase what 
are often complex products
marketing is vital for telling people about our brand and that 
most households can save over £1000 a year by spending a 
small amount of time switching their insurance energy and 
banking services this message was delivered by our 
successful ‘vegas’ and ‘£1000 man’ tv campaigns of 2012 
extending our brand proposition beyond motor insurance
we were still able to grow revenues by 13 while holding 
our tv brand advertising spend broadly ﬂat in 2012 thanks 
to the investment made in 2011 and 2012 in building a world 
class digital marketing team our digital experts have 
managed to make our paid search with google work much 
harder in 2012 than in previous years while retaining 
important leadership positions in google’s organic search 
across our core channels this demonstrates the expertise 
of our team given that google continues to change and 
evolve its search algorithms at an ever increasing pace 
peter plumb  
chief executive ofﬁcer
chief executive’s report 17 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
“ we saved british households 
£1 billion in 2012 that’s 
over £200 for each of 
the one in ve british 
households who purchased 
a product through 
moneysupermarketcom 
last year we are proud 
of having achieved the 
goal we set ourselves 
back in 2009”
many companies outsource digital marketing but we believe 
this is a core skill that is best kept inhouse to allow 
continued investment and development
our biggest investment for growth in the year was the 
acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom in september i am 
impressed by the tenacity of the moneysavingexpertcom 
team who week after week search for the best deals and 
ﬁll their site and weekly email with fantastic money saving 
tips over 7m people subscribe to the weekly email which 
is the best endorsement of the team’s focus on ﬁghting the 
user’s corner new services have already been launched by 
the team for example in response to the escalation of energy 
prices in the uk moneysavingexpertcom has launched its 
unique energy help tool cheap energy club users sign up to 
the club and in return will be offered the best energy rates 
available on the market plus an ongoing personalised service 
that will track all tariff and price movements regularly informing 
users of the best deals
2012 has been a good year for the group and most 
importantly a good year for our customers who between 
them have saved over £1 billion
looking forward to 2013 i see no reason to change our 
strategy it has served us well for the last four years and 
having performed our annual strategic review i am 
conﬁdent it will serve us well for the next three years
 our shop must continue to lead the market as voted by 
customers
 our providers must continue to rate 
moneysupermarketcom as their preferred partner
 our data insights will add value to our providers and 
support a personalised customer service
 our brand must remain the most trusted by customers 
to save money on their household bills 18 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
chief executive’s report continued
the strength of moneysupermarketcom as a business is 
the breadth of services we offer customers as we have 
seen over the last four years different years have different 
dynamics but as a whole the group’s diversity is its great 
strength
motor insurance is our largest channel motor insurance 
policy premiums ﬂuctuated signiﬁcantly during 2012 there is 
no real structural solution on the horizon to curb increasing 
prices during 2013 and beyond the ofﬁce of fair trading 
‘oft’ studied the private motor insurance market in 2011 
and referred it to the competition commission for further 
investigation in september it was encouraging to see that the 
outcome of the oft study acknowledged the positive role 
price comparison services had brought to customers 
however one of the key drivers of price increases that of 
escalating personal injury claims has not yet been fully 
addressed but is being considered by the ministry of justice 
there is no obvious simple solution
our money business however is in for a more challenging 
2013 the government’s ‘funding for lending’ scheme has 
had a negative impact on the country’s savers by reducing 
the competition for bank deposits easy access savings 
rates are at their lowest rate for ﬁve years at around 2 
compared to rates greater than 3 a year ago most 
forecasters believe this scheme will continue well into 2013
 
however for borrowers 2013 is shaping up to be a good 
year with credit cards and personal loans starting the year 
competitively a 24 month 0 interest rate credit card is now 
available and personal loans are at their cheapest rates for 
over 10 years at 51
rising energy costs are not only becoming a big issue for 
british households but they became a political issue in 
2012 average energy prices rose by 17 during 2012 while 
the government strives to meet challenging renewable 
energy generation targets by 2020 it is unlikely that these 
rising prices will slow government initiatives to reduce tariff 
complexity might go some way to help however most of 
the biggest savings to be made by our customers are by 
switching to online monthly direct debit tariffs and then by 
changing energy provider with varied launch dates and 
durations of ﬁxed price tariffs making a difference with door 
to door sales of energy now banned we see online energy 
switching as a major opportunity for customers to save 
money on their household bills
my conﬁdence in looking ahead comes from the security of 
having a great team at the moneysupermarketcom group 
our recruitment this year has been extensive from customer 
service staff to data analysts we invest in the best people we 
can ﬁnd and give them the infrastructure investment and 
support to thrive and pioneer i am delighted to welcome the 
165 new members of our team who joined last year including 
two new executives kenny jacobs our marketing director 
and vic darvey our director of new business and travel
we have much more to do in 2013 however we are on 
the right track we have a great team and we have the 
right strategy
my thanks to all our customers and providers for their 
support during 2012 as a group we look forward to saving 
more people more money in 2013
peter plumb 
chief executive ofﬁcer 19 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
the group has presented below an extract of the consolidated statement 
of comprehensive income for the years ended 31 december 2012 and 
31 december 2011 along with a reconciliation to adjusted ebitda 
financial and business review
revenue in 2012 was £2048m 2011 £1810m which generated a net proﬁt after tax of £248m 2011 £168m the directors believe 
that the presentation of an adjusted ebitda measure will allow users of the ﬁnancial information to gain a better understanding of the 
underlying performance of the business 
the group has restated its previously reported adjusted ebitda in 2011 increasing it by £30m to show the results on a consistent 
basis with those presented in 2012 details of the adjustments are shown below and described in the basis of preparation
extract of consolidated statement of comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 december 2012
note
2012
£000
2011
£000
revenue 204752 181048
cost of sales 53046 50156
gross proﬁt 151706 130892
distribution expenses 30471 29766
administrative expenses 89710 77083
proﬁt from operating activities 31525 24043
reconciliation to adjusted ebitda
proﬁt from operating activities 31525 24043
depreciation 3581 3819
amortisation of intangible assets 1 26148 24202
impairment of intangible assets 2 5945 2199
deferred consideration credit related to acquisitions in prior periods 2 281 2126
vat recovery 3 6148 1138
costs relating to acquisitions 4 3359 1537
contingent payable in relation to the acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 5 2325 –
adjusted ebitda 66454 52536
adjusted earnings per ordinary share
– basic p 91 71
– diluted p 90 69
 indicates amendments made to 2011 reported adjusted ebitda to present the results on a consistent basis with 2012
notes
basis of preparation
the results show the trading results for the years ended 31 december 2012 and 
31 december 2011 the following adjustments have been made in arriving at 
adjusted ebitda
1 amortisation of intangible assets

company prior to listing gave rise to £2072m of intangible assets these will be 
written off over a period of 310 years with a charge of £230m expensed in both 
2012 and 2011
 
and a sole trader business from martin lewis together ‘mse’ on 
21 september 2012 by the group gave rise to £129m of intangible assets 
these will be written off over a period of 310 years with a charge of £05m 
included within 2012 2011 nil

gave rise to £61m of intangible assets these were to be written off over a 
period of 310 years with a charge of £07m in both 2012 and 2011

related intangible assets
2 impairment of intangible assets and adjustments to deferred 
consideration related to aquisitions in prior periods

comprised a number of direct match domain names the acquisition gave rise to 
£61m of intangible assets which were to be written off over a period of 310 years 
and £22m of goodwill during 2011 the group reassessed how much of the 
contingent consideration related to the fsn acquisition it expected to become 
payable based on the then current forecast as a result the group recognised a credit 
in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income in 2011 of £22m in light of 
this the group also performed an impairment review of fsn’s assets and identiﬁed 
an impairment charge of £22m relating to goodwill which was also recognised in the 
consolidated statement of comprehensive income in 2011
 at the end of 2012 the group has again assessed the expected trading performance 
of fsn taking into account the impact of the lower importance that direct match 
domain names now have in natural search algorithms consequently the group 
has recognised an impairment charge of £44m in the consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income in relation to its intangible assets being the net book value 
of those assets as at the end of 2012 in addition in light of the trading performance 
referred to above the group has also reassessed the amount of contingent 
consideration that it expects to become payable and as a result has recognised 
a credit of £02m in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income 20 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review

deals limited ‘ldd’ for an initial consideration of £1m rising to a total 
consideration of up to £11m payable on the third anniversary of its acquisition 
depending on the achievement of certain ﬁnancial targets 

of the trading performance the group has performed a review of the carrying 
value of goodwill £06m identiﬁed upon the acquisition of ldd as a result of 
this review the group has recognised an impairment charge of £06m 2011 nil 
in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income in the period the 
group has also performed a review of the value of contingent remuneration 
held on its balance sheet that may have become payable to the vendors of the 
business at the end of the earnout period as a result of this exercise the group 
has lowered its estimate of the fair value of contingent consideration that will be 
payable to nil consequently having recognised a charge for £01m in the prior 
period a credit of £01m 2011 nil has been included in the consolidated 
statement of comprehensive income for the current period

a portion of the technology related intangible assets
3 vat recovery

 the group received written notiﬁcation in june 2011 that it had been successful 
in challenging the vat treatment of the supply of certain of its lead services 
following a ruling received in march 2008 from hmrc the group had treated 
the supply of its lead services as a standard rated supply for vat purposes 
rather than as an exempt supply that the group believed to be correct £31m is 
deducted from statutory proﬁt in 2011 representing the amount of the total 
credit received that related to periods prior to 2011
 in july 2012 the group reached agreement with hmrc that enabled it to apply a 
new method to determine the proportion of vat it was able to recover on expenses 
it incurred the group recognised a net credit of £106m in its consolidated 
statement of comprehensive income representing the total value of the beneﬁt 
to the group from 1 april 2008 to 31 december 2012 all amounts owing by 
hmrc relating to the claim had been received by the group by the year end 
 the group has included within adjusted ebitda in 2012 and 2011 that proportion of 
the credit received that relates to 2012 and 2011 being £45m and £19m respectively 
to present the results on a consistent basis as a result of this adjustment the 
previously reported adjusted ebitda for 2011 has been increased by £19m
4 costs incurred relating to acquisitions made in 2011 and 2012

incurred charges in connection with the acquisition of £05m these were 
added back in calculating adjusted ebitda in 2011 
 group incurred £34m of costs in 2012 and £11m in 2011 relating to the 
acquisition these have been added back in calculating adjusted ebitda in 
2012 and 2011 as a result of this adjustment the previously reported adjusted 
ebitda for 2011 has been increased by £11m
5 contingent payable
 mse
 the group has recognised an administrative expense relating to deferred 
consideration which is linked to continued employment in its consolidated 
statement of comprehensive income in 2012 of £23m relating to the 
employment of an individual within administrative expenses 
reference is made in the overview and financial highlights sections to adjusted 
revenues adjusted gross margin adjusted cost base and adjusted distribution and 
administration expenses these measures represent the revenue generated and costs 
charged to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income less intangible 
amortisation adjustments relating to vat recoveries costs incurred in relation to 
acquisitions made in 2011 and 2012 costs recognised in respect of deferred 
consideration relating to acquisitions and the write down of investments made in prior 
periods referred to above
overview
we present a strong set of ﬁnancial results for the year ended 
31 december 2012 adjusted revenue for the year increased by 
15 to £2048m 2011 £1785m generating adjusted ebitda 
which was 26 higher at £665m 2011 £525m this included 
external revenues of £18m and ebitda of £28m respectively 
resulting from the acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom ‘mse’ 
described below which was acquired on 21 september 2012
during 2012 the group has continued to see good growth 
trading during the second half of the year improved relative to the 
comparable ﬁrst half performance in the insurance home 
services and travel verticals revenues in the money vertical 
however were broadly ﬂat in the second half of the year as savings 
revenues declined as a result of the introduction of the bank of 
england’s ‘funding for lending’ scheme which enables ﬁnancial 
institutions to seek low cost funding centrally rather than through 
retail deposits from the consumer markets
the group acquired mse on 21 september 2012 for a total 
consideration of up to £925m including deferred consideration of 
up to £270m the moneysavingexpertcom brand is recognised 
in the uk as the trusted brand to help consumers ﬁnd the very 
best deals available in a number of different areas and sits very 
much in line with the group’s stated ambition of helping every 
household make the most of their money trading since 
acquisition has been strong
consistent with prior years the group has continued to invest in 
its technology platforms and its brand the group capitalised 
£35m in 2012 investing in platforms that will enable the group 
to more readily deploy changes to its website and replace some 
of the legacy technology that exists today this will increase 
ﬂexibility and lower the cost of ownership and builds upon the 
investments made in 2011 which improved the group’s data 
acquisition capabilities the group expects this investment to 
continue through 2013
distribution costs were only 2 ahead of 2011 the group 
launched the ‘you’re so moneysupermarket’ campaign in the 
second half of 2011 and continued to run a number of iterations 
during 2012 including the launch of the £1000 household 
savings message in the second half of the year which helped 
drive up visitor numbers and revenues supporting its ofﬂine 
marketing efforts the group has also invested in key skill sets in 
online marketing particularly digital marketing and analytics 
this helped continue to increase marketing efﬁciencies and 
improve operating margins
financial and business review continued 21 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
financial performance
adjusted group revenue increased by 15 to £2048m 
2011 £1785m and adjusted ebitda increased by 26 to 
£665m 2011 £525m excluding the contribution from mse 
from the date of acquisition 21 september 2012 adjusted 
revenues increased by 14 to £2030m 2011 £1785m and 
adjusted ebitda increased by 21 to £637m 2011 £525m 
the group saw solid revenue growth in its insurance money and 
home services verticals whilst travel revenues were broadly 
ﬂat trading improved in the second half of the year in home 
services and travel whilst insurance traded well throughout the 
year revenues in the money vertical which were 19 ahead in 
the ﬁrst half were broadly ﬂat in the second half of the year
group adjusted gross margins increased from 719 to 741 
the group increased its proportion of direct to site revenues to 
69 2011 67 partly as a result of the acquisition of mse which 
from the date of acquisition has been classiﬁed as direct to site 
revenues having previously been classiﬁed as portal partner 
revenues had the group owned mse from 1 january 2012 
direct to site revenues would have represented 74 of revenues 
paid search continued to represent 22 of revenue in the year 
2011 22
adjusted administrative and distribution costs increased by 
12 from £759m to £853m distribution expenses increased 
by 2 to £305m with marginally higher spends on creative and 
media costs adjusted administrative costs increased by 17 
from £499m to £584m in 2012 adjusted staff costs including 
contract resource were 18 higher at £354m headcount 
increased from 439 to 529 from december 2011 to december 
2012 as the group increased its resources in digital marketing 
and analytics as it continues to drive more efﬁciency from its 
marketing investments in addition the acquisition of mse added 
a further 45 heads to the group headcount
other administrative costs including irrecoverable vat increased 
by £34m the largest part of which related to the implementation 
of a number of digital marketing solutions to support the group’s 
online marketing efforts as noted above the group reached 
agreement with hmrc relating to the methodology used to 
calculate the proportion of vat that it can recover on expenses it 
incurs this lowered the irrecoverable vat charge by £45m in 2012 
and £19m in 2011 compared to the previous method used by the 
group the group has restated its adjusted administrative costs in 
2011 to present the results on a consistent basis
adjusted ebitda margins increased from 294 to 325 
against the same period last year excluding mse group 
ebitda margins would have been 314
the group operates its internet business across a number of 
vertical markets these are discussed below
adjusted revenue
1
31 december 2012 31 december 2011
£000  £000 
money 57389 28 52586 30
insurance 120368 59 102655 57
travel 13074 6 13319 9
home services 11403 6 9181 4
other –– 166 0
moneysupermarketcom 202234 99 177907 100
moneysavingexpertcom 3931 2 –0
other businesses 735 0 622 0
intercompany revenue
2
2148 1 –0
total 204752 100 178529 100
1 the above table excludes £25m of revenue in 2011 which the group recorded 
in relation to the settlement of the vat treatment of its leads business which 
related to periods prior to 2011
2 in the above table revenues in moneysupermarketcom arising from trafﬁc from 
moneysavingexpertcom have been shown in both moneysupermarketcom 
and moneysavingexpertcom to present the revenues of moneysupermarketcom 
on a consistent basis in 2012 and 2011 and to show the contribution of the 
moneysavingexpertcom business to the group intercompany revenues have 
been eliminated as shown above
moneysupermarketcom internet business
the directors use key performance indicators ‘kpis’ to assess 
the performance of the business against the group’s strategy 
these are reviewed on a regular basis the principal kpis for the 
business are as follows 
visitors
the group measures the number of visitors to its websites 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 websites having clicked through to 
a third party website or in some cases having completed an 
application form hosted on the group’s websites 
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
the relative performance of each of the internet verticals is 
discussed on the following pages 22 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
22
business review
money
the money vertical offers customers the ability to search for and 
compare products such as credit cards current accounts 
mortgages loans debt solutions savings accounts and business 
ﬁnance amongst other things it also includes elements of the 
group’s leads business paa and advisory business sas together 
with advertising revenue that derives from ﬁnancial products
the kpis for the money vertical are shown below
31 december 
2012
31 december 
2011 change
visitors 000 40445 35220 15
transactions 000 21353 18773 14
revenue £000  click based 53751 48254 11
revenue £000  other 3638 4332 16
revenue £000  total 57389 52586 9
rpv £142 £149 5
rpt £252 £257 2
visitors 
change 15
2010 2011
transactions 
change 14
2012
318
352
404
2010 2011 2012
136
187
214
total revenue increased by 9 from £526m to £574m and click 
based revenue by 11 from £483m to £538m visitors to the 
money vertical were 15 higher than last year
the group saw growth across its credit business and more 
generally from other banking products particularly savings 
which performed very strongly in the ﬁrst half of the year 
revenues from credit products deﬁned as secured and 
unsecured loans credit cards pay day loans debt solutions and 
mortgages excluding impression based advertising were 6 
ahead of last year whilst noncredit products grew by 17 
revenues in the second half of the year in the savings channel 
were markedly lower than the same period last year particularly 
in the fourth quarter of the year revenues were impacted by 
lower competition for retail deposits among ﬁnancial institutions 
many of whom sought low cost funding from the bank of 
england’s ‘funding for lending’ scheme rather than through the 
retail deposits market
other revenue which includes revenue from the sale of leads 
through paa commission based sales through sas for 
mortgages and loans and advertising revenue declined by 
approximately £07m or 16 over the year the group has 
consistent with prior periods continued to focus upon improving 
its click based offering encouraging consumers to click through 
and transact with providers rather than through its lead 
businesses or through advertising
insurance
the insurance vertical offers customers the ability to search for 
and compare insurance products such as breakdown dental 
home life medical motor pet and travel insurance amongst 
other things it also includes elements of the group’s leads 
business paa and advisory business sas together with 
advertising revenue that derives from insurance products
the kpis for the insurance vertical are shown below
31 december 
2012
31 december 
2011 change
visitors 000 32679 28554 14
transactions 000 16442 15687 5
revenue £000  click based 105976 92218 15
revenue £000  other 14392 10437 38
revenue £000  total 120368 102655 17
rpv £368 £360 2
rpt £645 £588 10
visitors 
change 14
2010 2011
transactions 
change 5
2012
255
286
327
2010 2011 2012
141
157
164
revenues in the insurance vertical increased by 17 from 
£1027m to £1204m click based revenue increased by 15 
from £922m to £1060m
revenues increased in each of the four major lines of business 
being motor home travel and life insurance with motor 
continuing to perform particularly strongly 
visitors increased by 14 over the period driven by both 
effective online and ofﬂine marketing campaigns
other revenue increased by £40m largely as a result of the 
telephone assisted life insurance channel which offers consumers 
ofﬂine support in completing often complex application forms and 
which launched in the second half of 2011
financial and business review continued 23 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview
23
business review
travel
the travel vertical offers customers the ability to search for and 
compare car hire ﬂights hotels and package holidays amongst 
other things
the kpis for the travel vertical are shown below 
31 december 
2012
31 december 
2011 change
visitors 000 44216 40708 9
transactions 000 20373 21928 7
revenue £000  click based 12210 12171 0
revenue £000  other 864 1148 25
revenue £000  total 13074 13319 2
rpv £030 £033 10
rpt £060 £056 8
visitors 
change 9
2010 2011
transactions 
change 7
2012
379
407
442
2010 2011 2012
221 219
204
revenue in the travel vertical declined by 2 from £133m to 
£131m and click based revenue was ﬂat at £122m visitor levels 
increased by 9 compared to the same period last year
trading within the travel vertical improved throughout the course 
of the year quarter on quarter relative to the same period last 
year revenues in the second half of the year were approximately 
5 ahead of the same period last year package holidays 
revenue improved substantially in 2012 as the technology 
investments made in 2011 bedded in and the site was continually 
optimised to improve the user experience car hire revenues also 
held up well revenues from ﬂights and hotels were weaker year 
on year continuing to reﬂect lower consumer demand although 
improvements made to the hotels channel in the second half of 
the year helped boost revenues
the group has demonstrated that investments in technology in the 
travel vertical can signiﬁcantly improve revenues and continues to 
see good opportunities for future growth in the travel business
other revenue representing impression based advertising fell by 
25 as consistent with the rest of the business management 
reduced the amount of real estate available for advertising
home services
the home services vertical offers customers the ability to 
search for and compare products such as broadband mobile 
telephones vouchers shopping and utilities 
the kpis for the home services vertical are shown below
31 december 
2012
31 december 
2011 change
visitors 000 28816 25748 12
transactions 000 9252 8482 9
revenue £000  click based 11399 9160 25
revenue £000  other 4 21 81
revenue £000  total 11403 9181 24
rpv £040 £036 11
rpt £123 £108 14
visitors 
change 12
2010 2011
transactions 
change 9
2012
240
257
288
2010 2011 2012
75
85
93
revenue in the home services vertical increased by 24 from 
£92m to £114m in the year visitors increased by 12 
revenues from utilities which is the largest channel in the 
vertical were particularly strong in the second half of the year as 
utilities prices increased driving an increase in switching 
volumes the increase in utilities revenue relative to other 
sources of revenue in the home services vertical increased rpv 
in the period
moneysavingexpertcom mse
the group acquired mse on 21 september 2012 mse 
generated £39m in revenues for the group of which £21m 
related to revenues also recognised within moneysupermarketcom 
from trafﬁc referred to it from mse mse contributed £28m to 
group ebitda since it was acquired
trading trends have largely reﬂected those experienced by 
moneysupermarketcom with revenues from money products 
particularly savings being challenged whilst revenues from 
utilities switching were buoyant aided by a number of the major 
providers raising their prices during the fourth quarter 
overall the mse business has performed well since acquisition 
and is well placed with support from the wider group to 
continue to grow its customer base
vat
in the ﬁrst half of 2011 the group reached agreement with hm 
revenue and customs ‘hmrc’ that a number of its income 
streams had been classiﬁed incorrectly by hmrc as standard 
rated supplies rather than exempt the group recognised a one 
off credit of £35m in the ﬁrst half of 2011 within its statutory 
numbers of which £31m related to prior periods 24 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
financial and business review continued
in july 2012 the group received formal approval from hmrc for 
the use of a new vat recovery method the group had ﬁled claims 
dating back to 1 april 2008 the claims were settled in december 
2012 and the group has consequently recognised a credit of 
£106m in its consolidated statement of comprehensive income of 
which £45m relates to the year ended 31 december 2012 and 
£19m to the year ended 31 december 2011 these amounts have 
been included in adjusted ebitda in the respective periods
acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 
local daily deals limited and financial services 
net limited
on 21 september 2012 the group acquired the trade and certain 
assets of moneysavingexpertcom and a sole trader business from 
martin lewis for a total consideration of up to £925m including 
deferred consideration of up to £27 0m the initial consideration of 
£655m was settled by an upfront cash payment of £350m and 
£305m of equity represented by 221m shares in the company 
the deferred consideration is payable in part against the 
achievement of certain nonﬁnancial metrics over a three year 
period and in part at the board’s discretion the deferred 
consideration will be settled on the third anniversary of completion
the group expects to be able to claim a corporation tax 
deduction of £200m over a ﬁve year period representing the tax 
effect of the amortisation of an element of the value of goodwill 
and intangible assets identiﬁed on the acquisition of the trade 
and assets of the sole trader business from martin lewis
the moneysavingexpertcom website offers free online content 
which moneysavingexpertcom has researched on areas such as 
credit cards and loans shopping deals and vouchers utilities and 
phones banking and saving travel and motoring insurance 
mortgages and homes and income and family
moneysavingexpertcom’s offering includes a range of online tools 
researched articles in respect of speciﬁc products personal ﬁnance 
guides weekly newsletter emails which are sent to subscribers 
and online forums martin lewis and the moneysavingexpertcom 
website also provide information and promote topical consumer 
focused issues such as ﬁnancial education in schools and 
reclaiming payment protection insurance
the business will be run separately for a period of at least 
three years according to an editorial code to ensure that 
moneysavingexpertcom remains independent the board 
believes that the acquisition will help the combined group reach 
a wider range of consumers increase the proportion of revenues 
which are derived from direct to site sources and contribute 
signiﬁcantly to the group’s goal of helping every household make 
the most of their money
on 31 august 2011 the group completed the acquisition of 51 
of local daily deals limited “ldd” for an initial consideration of 
£1m rising to a total consideration of up to £11m payable on the 
third anniversary of its acquisition depending on the achievement 
of certain ﬁnancial targets
ldd owns and operates a website and technology platform 
that features discounted retail offers from local and national 
companies the business has not performed in line with 
management expectations and following the acquisition of mse 
referred to above the group has decided to refocus its resources 
in supporting mse consequently the group has performed a 
review of the value of contingent remuneration held on its balance 
sheet as a result of this exercise the group has lowered its 
estimate of the fair value of the contingent payable and 
consequently a credit of £01m 2011 £01m charge has been 
included in the consolidated statement of comprehensive 
income in the period
in light of the trading performance referred to above the group 
has separately performed a review of the carrying value of 
goodwill identiﬁed upon the acquisition of ldd as a result of this 
review the group has recognised an impairment charge for the full 
amount of £06m 2011 nil in the consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income in the period
on 14 october 2010 the group completed the acquisition of 
financial services net limited ‘fsn’ which owns and operates a 
number of websites in the money and insurance verticals for an 
initial consideration of £44m rising to a total consideration of up 
to £88m payable over three years depending on the achievement 
of certain ﬁnancial targets and the conclusion of outstanding tax 
matters 
trading of the fsn business has been below management 
expectations in 2011 the group performed a review of the value 
of contingent consideration held on its balance sheet as a result 
of this exercise the group lowered its estimate of the fair value of 
contingent consideration that would have been payable from 
£24m to £02m and consequently recognised a credit for £22m 
in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income in 2011
in light of the trading performance referred to above the group 
separately performed a review of the carrying value of goodwill 
and intangible assets identiﬁed upon the acquisition of fsn as a 
result of this review the group also recognised an impairment loss 
of £22m in 2011 in the consolidated statement of comprehensive 
income in the period
during 2012 the group has again assessed the trading 
performance of fsn at the end of 2012 performance had been 
impacted by the lower importance of direct match domain 
names in natural search algorithms the group has now 
refocused a number of its resources that were dedicated to the 
fsn business to supporting mse consequently the group has 
recognised an impairment charge of £44m in fully writing down 
its intangible assets alongside this the group also reviewed  25 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
and subsequently reduced to £nil the fair value of contingent 
consideration and as a result has recognised a credit of £02m 
in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income
investment in hd decisions
on 25 march 2011 the group invested £1m in acquiring a 25 
stake in hd decisions limited ‘hd’ hd provides credit decision 
support technology which allows consumers to better 
understand the probability of being approved for a credit product 
before making a formal application for credit this improves the 
user’s experience on the group’s websites by matching 
consumers with credit products that they are eligible for and 
increases the number of relevant applications for individual 
providers which improves conversion importantly a credit 
footprint is not left on the consumer’s proﬁle at the point of initial 
enquiry furthermore providers are able to reduce the cost of 
credit searches at the application stage if consumers proceed 
to apply only for those credit products that are suited to their 
particular circumstances the software is currently deployed to 
a portion of the group’s credit cards and loans channel 
customers
cash balance and dividend
as at 31 december 2012 the group had a cash balance  
of £187m 
having reviewed inter alia the performance of the group and 
the cash required by the business the board is recommending 
a ﬁnal dividend subject to shareholder approval in respect of 
the year ended 31 december 2012 of 394p per ordinary share
together with the interim dividend of 18p per ordinary share paid 
on 14 september 2012 this gives a total ordinary dividend for 
the year of 57 4p per ordinary share 201 1 453p reﬂecting the 
board’s conﬁdence in the ability of the business to generate cash 
on an ongoing basis
the board is committed to a progressive dividend policy with 
ongoing monitoring of the appropriate capital structure
the exdividend date for the ﬁnal dividend is 20 march 2013 
with a record date of 22 march 2013 and a payment date of 
26 april 2013 shareholders will 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 £67m in the consolidated statement 
of comprehensive income represents an effective tax rate of 
213 2011 31 this is lower than the prevailing rate of 245 
2011 265 due to the impact of the reduction in the rate of 
corporation tax on the deferred tax liability
in the future the group expects the underlying effective rate of 
tax to approximate to the standard uk corporation tax rate
earnings per ordinary share 
basic statutory earnings per ordinary share for the year to 
31 december 2012 was 48p 2011 33p adjusted basic earnings 
per ordinary share increased from 7 1p to 91p per share the 
adjusted earnings per ordinary share is based on proﬁt before tax 
after adding back intangible amortisation and goodwill impairment 
the vat recoveries relating to current and prior periods costs 
incurred in relation to the acquisitions of local daily deals limited 
and moneysavingexpertcom credits relating to the reassessment 
of contingent consideration for financial services net limited and 
local daily deals limited and costs related to the contingent 
consideration for moneysavingexpertcom a tax rate of 245 
2011 265 has been applied to calculate adjusted proﬁt after tax 
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 £260m 2011 £27 0m 
relating to television and other ofﬂine advertising in 2012 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 week’s 
expenditure at any one time television and other ofﬂine advertising 
costs represent 85 2011 90 of distribution costs
the group uses search engines to acquire trafﬁc via paid search 
the group spent £394m 2011 £356m on paid search in 2012 
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 no 
forward commitment to search engines and manages its spend 
on a real time basis
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 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 
2011 6 of group internet revenue in 2012 26 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business review
financial risks
risk area potential impact mitigation
signiﬁcant  
worsening  
in ﬁnancial markets
financial institutions may reduce the quantum of 
lending andor tighten their acceptance criteria for 
customers seeking to obtain credit financial 
institutions may reduce their reliance on the retail 
market to obtain funds or may have lower cost 
funds available from other sources including the 
bank of england to support their business 
activities providers may increase their focus on 
customer retention rather than acquisition these 
factors may reduce commissions available to price 
comparison websites
the group continues to focus on building strong 
relationships with providers to ensure the group is 
able to provide solutions to the needs of providers 
and to maximise the opportunities for providers to 
acquire customers in a cost effective manner
reduction  
of providers
providers may consolidate withdraw their 
products from price comparison websites or 
reduce their customer acquisition activity via  
price comparison websites this may reduce 
competition for business customer choice  
group revenue and the customer proposition  
of price comparison websites
the group continues to focus on building strong 
relationships with providers to ensure the group is 
able to provide solutions to the needs of providers 
and to maximise the opportunities for providers to 
acquire customers in a cost effective manner
investment in  
new areas andor 
signiﬁcant 
acquisitions
signiﬁcant investments in new products  
and services or new geographies fail  
to make a return failure to generate anticipated 
revenue growth synergies andor cost savings 
from signiﬁcant acquisitions could lead to 
signiﬁcant goodwill and intangible asset 
impairments
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 signiﬁcant acquisitions are approved by the 
board following preacquisition due diligence 
postacquisition performance of signiﬁcant 
acquisitions is closely monitored to ensure 
corrective action can be taken in the event of 
deviations from expected performance
financial services  
and other markets 
regulation
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
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
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 services 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
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
principal risks and uncertainties 27 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
operational risks
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  
and reputation
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  
or if its reputation is negatively impacted by any 
event such as the loss or misuse of customer 
personal data
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 
rigorous use of internal controls and testing of the 
group’s systems together with infrastructure 
investment will ensure the integrity and robustness 
of the group’s systems
business continuity 
capacity and 
functionality  
of it and systems
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 developed software is rigorously tested 
and the group operates a robust release process 
which mitigates the likelihood of software being 
released into a live environment without being fully 
tested
loss of key 
management
loss of key management resulting in a lack of 
necessary expertise or continuity to execute 
strategy
existing key management new hires or 
management teams that are acquired through 
acquisitions are tied in through attractive equity 
and other incentive packages and rewarding 
career structures in addition succession plans 
have been developed or are being developed for 
key members of the management team including 
through acquisitions which are regularly reviewed
reliance on  
search engine  
natural listings
reduction in gross margin through reduction  
in revenue derived from search engine  
optimisation activities
the group will continue to invest in sustainable 
search engine optimisation activities which adhere 
to search engine guidelines
changing customer 
behaviour
reduction in customer loyalty with existing 
customers and an inability to attract new 
customers if the business fails to adapt to 
changing customer behaviour such as the 
increasing use of mobile devices to access the 
internet ‘apps’ and social media
the group continues to focus on building market 
leading products to improve its proposition to 
customers the group continues to engage with 
customers to understand any changes in the way 
they utilise the group’s services 28 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
the board considers that the management of safety health 
environment social and ethical matters forms a key element 
of effective corporate governance which in turn supports the 
strategy long term performance and sustainability of the 
business 
communities and charities
the group’s community initiative was launched in 2008 
and has continued to develop during 2012 the initiative is 
focused on providing support to charities located within a 
few miles of the group’s ofﬁces in ewloe and so support is 
targeted primarily in flintshire and cheshire
a volunteer group of employees meet each month to review 
requests for donations from charities and to allocate funds 
according to agreed donation guidelines employees are 
also active in researching and seeking out local good 
causes that the group can help support the initiative has 
been effective at harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of 
the group’s employees to beneﬁt the communities in which 
it operates
in 2012 the group made £2000 per month available for the 
community initiative this funding has been channelled via 
the charities aid foundation enabling the group to make 
gross donations to registered charities
over the course of the year the group has supported 44 
charities including
 green pastures homeless charity
 age concern
 the north wales chrysalis trust
 alder hey children’s charity
 miles of smiles
 clwyd special riding centre
 shelter cymru
in addition to the community initiative the group and its 
employees continue to select and support a charity of the 
year on an annual basis
more talent more 
opportunity more fun
the 2012 charity of the year was the alzheimer’s society 
the charity provides help and support to people affected 
by dementia over the course of the year the group’s 
employees raised £12357 for the alzheimer’s society with the 
group also donating £12357 bringing the total donated to the 
alzheimer’s society during the year to £24714
employees have selected mind as its 2013 charity of the 
year the charity provides help and support to those 
affected by mental health problems
the group launched a volunteering scheme in october 2011 
through which the group supports a total of 60 volunteering 
days per year to help those who are less fortunate and 
thereby make a valuable contribution to our local community 
during the year employees volunteered in a diverse range of 
activities including helping at an orphanage in cambodia 
environment
the group has established a team called the ‘green team’ 
which comprises a volunteer group of employees who meet 
regularly and whose aim is to reduce energy and raw 
material usage throughout the group to support 
environmental and ﬁnancial performance
the ‘green team’ have implemented a number of initiatives in 
2012 to support this aim including the installation of solar panels 
at the group’s head ofﬁce resulting in energy savings of 
approximately 60000kwh during 2012 the installation of energy 
efﬁcient lighting at the group’s ofﬁces and the continued 
replacement of pcs and printers with more energy efﬁcient 
models the group estimates that during 2012 it recycled on 
average over 50 of its commercial waste
employees
the group actively encourages employee involvement and 
consultation and places considerable emphasis on keeping 
its employees informed of the group’s activities via formal 
half yearly business performance updates regular update 
brieﬁngs regular team meetings the group’s intranet site 
corporate responsibility report
community team 
members present the 
railway children 
charity with £600 29 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
moneysupermarketcom is supporting 
graduate employment and training in 
2012 we introduced the ‘digital 
academy’ this is 
a detailed programme aimed at ensuring 
our graduate employees and all 
moneysupermarketcom staff understand 
the fundamentals of digital marketing and 
have access to the very best training in 
digital marketing disciplines our ambition 
in 2013 is to develop an externally 
our charity and community teams are 
encouraged to get involved to help 
national and local causes each year we 
nominate a national charity to support 
and in 2012 we supported the 
alzheimer’s society as well as making 
donations and grants to local charities 
the community team gets involved in 
other ways including using staff 
volunteering days donating their 
digital academy charities
which enables easy access to the latest group information 
as well as group policies 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 has an established employee forum through 
which nominated representatives ensure that employees’ 
views are taken into account regarding issues that are likely 
to affect them a robust employee engagement 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 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 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
business ethics
the group has formal ethics and antibribery policies which 
incorporate the group’s key principles and standards 
governing business conduct towards our key stakeholder 
groups we believe we should treat all of these group’s with 
honesty and integrity 30 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
management
gerald corbett 
chairman of the board 
and chairman of the 
nomination committee
simon nixon
deputy chairman
peter plumb
chief executive officer
paul doughty
chief financial officer
biography gerald has been chairman 
of britvic plc since 
november 2005 chairman 
of betfair group plc since 
march 2012 and chairman 
of towry holdings limited 
since march 2012 gerald 
is a nonexecutive director 
of numis corporation plc 
and is chairman of the 
board of trustees of the 
royal national institute for 
the deaf gerald was 
chairman of ssl 
international plc from 2005 
to 2010 and prior to that 
was chairman chief 
executive or ﬁnance 
director of a number of 
major companies
simon cofounded the 
group’s business in 1993 
and since then has been 
involved in the 
management and 
development of the 
business including  
the launch of 
moneysupermarketcom 
in 1999 and 
travelsupermarketcom  
in 2004 
prior to joining the group in 
2009 peter was the uk 
managing director of 
dunnhumby limited 
between 2006 and 2008 
he was previously general 
manager of europe disney 
consumer products 
international director of 
dyson appliances limited 
and held senior commercial 
roles at pepsico 
international peter has an 
mba from imd in 
switzerland
paul joined the group in 
2004 as chief financial 
ofﬁcer prior to that he 
held commercial ﬁnance 
roles at motorola limited 
national power plc and 
morse plc paul is a 
qualiﬁed chartered 
accountant having trained 
and qualiﬁed at price 
waterhouse
term of ofﬁce gerald was appointed to 
the board as chairman in 
june 2007 
simon was appointed to 
the board as chief 
executive ofﬁcer in april 
2007 and became deputy 
chairman in february 
2009
peter was appointed to the 
board in january 2009 and 
became chief executive 
ofﬁcer in february 2009
paul was appointed to the 
board in april 2007 
independent on appointment not applicable not applicable not applicable
external 
appointments
gerald is chairman of 
britvic plc betfair group 
plc towry holdings limited 
and the board of trustees of 
the royal national institute 
for the deaf he is a 
nonexecutive director of 
numis corporation plc
simon is a director of 
simonseekscom limited 
simon family ofﬁce 
limited atlantic paradise 
ltd atlantic serenity 
holding ltd and simon 
escapes properties sl 
none paul is a director of hd 
decisions limited a 
company in which the 
group owns 25 of the 
share capital
committee 
membership
gerald chairs the 
nomination committee 
and is a member of the 
remuneration and  
audit committees 
not applicable peter chairs the group risk 
committee and attends the 
remuneration audit and 
nomination committees by 
invitation
paul is a member of the 
group risk committee and 
attends the audit 
committee by invitation
board of directors and company secretary 31 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
management
graham donoghue
managing director 
financial services
michael wemms 
senior independent 
nonexecutive director
rob rowley 
independent non
executive director and 
chairman of the audit 
committee
bruce carnegiebrown
independent non
executive director and 
chairman of the 
remuneration committee
darren drabble
company secretary and 
group general counsel
graham joined the group 
in 2008 as managing 
director travel and was 
appointed managing 
director financial services 
in january 2011 prior to 
joining the group graham 
was new media director of 
tui travel plc between 
2006 and 2008
michael has been a 
nonexecutive director of 
howden joinery group plc 
since 2006 he was 
formerly a nonexecutive 
director of inchcape plc 
between 2004 and 2011 
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
rob has been a non
executive director of intu 
properties plc since 2004 
and a nonexecutive 
director of taylor wimpey 
plc since 2010 where for 
both companies he is the 
senior independent 
nonexecutive director and 
chairs their respective audit 
committees he was 
formerly deputy chairman 
of cable  wireless plc 
between 2003 and 2006 
and a nonexecutive 
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
bruce was appointed 
nonexecutive chairman of 
aon uk plc in september 
2012 and a nonexecutive 
director of santander uk 
plc in october 2012 he 
has been a nonexecutive 
director of close brothers 
group plc since 2006 and 
a nonexecutive director of 
catlin group limited since 
2010 where for both 
companies he is the senior 
independent nonexecutive 
director and chairs their 
respective remuneration 
committees he was 
previously managing 
partner of 3i group chief 
executive ofﬁcer of marsh 
limited and a managing 
director of jp morgan
darren joined the group as 
company secretary and 
group general counsel in 
may 2007  darren has a 
corporate and commercial 
law background originally 
qualifying as a solicitor with 
addleshaw goddard llp 
before working as a senior 
legal counsel at united 
utilities group plc
graham was appointed to 
the board in february 
2009
michael was appointed to 
the board as a non
executive director in july 
2007 
rob was appointed to the 
board as a nonexecutive 
director in september 
2007 
bruce was appointed to 
the board as a non
executive director in april 
2010
darren was appointed 
company secretary in 
june 2007  
not applicable yes yes yes not applicable
none michael is a nonexecutive 
director of howden joinery 
group plc
rob is a nonexecutive 
director of intu properties 
plc and taylor wimpey plc
bruce is nonexecutive 
chairman of aon uk plc 
he is a nonexecutive 
director of close brothers 
group plc catlin group 
limited and santander uk 
plc
none
graham is a member of the 
group risk committee
michael is a member of the 
remuneration audit and 
nomination committees
rob chairs the audit 
committee and  
is a member of the 
remuneration and 
nomination committees
bruce chairs the 
remuneration committee 
and is a member of the 
audit and nomination 
committees
darren is a member of the 
group risk committee 32 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
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 2012
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 home services and other product 
or service providers through its websites 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 19 to 25
business review
the chairman’s statement on pages 14 and 15 the chief 
executive’s report on pages 16 to 18 the financial and 
business review on pages 19 to 25 and the principal risks and 
uncertainties on pages 26 and 27 provide a detailed review of 
the group’s activities likely future developments and principal 
risks and uncertainties all the information detailed in those 
pages is incorporated by reference into this report and is 
deemed to form part of this report
as at the date of this report there have been no important 
events affecting the business of the group which have occurred 
since 31 december 2012
corporate governance
the corporate governance report the audit committee 
report the nomination committee report and the directors’ 
remuneration report on pages 36 to 52 are incorporated by 
reference into this report and are deemed to form part of this 
report
results and dividends
the group’s and company’s audited financial statements for 
the ﬁnancial year ended 31 december 2012 are set out on 
pages 54 to 87
an interim dividend of 18p 2011 15p and a special dividend of 
393p per ordinary share was paid to shareholders on 14 
september 2012
the directors recommend a ﬁnal dividend of 394p 
2011 303p per ordinary share if approved by shareholders 
at the forthcoming annual general meeting this will be paid 
on 26 april 2013 to shareholders on the register at the close 
of business on 22 march 2013
the ﬁnal dividend together with the interim dividend paid on  
14 september 2012 gives a total dividend for the year of 574p 
2011 846p per ordinary share
major shareholders
as at the date 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
 
 
 
shareholder
number
of ordinary
sharesvoting
rights notiﬁed
 
percentage of
ordinary share
capital notiﬁed
simon nixon 259795130 5043
blackrock inc 25454379 4998
fil limited 24758460 486
the capital group companies inc 24955401 484
state street nominees limited 20581165 414
martin steven lewis 17378424 320
share capital and control
the issued share capital of the company comprises a single 
class of shares referred to as ordinary shares of 002p each as 
at 31 december 2012 the issued share capital of the company 
was £107458 comprising 537288389 ordinary shares of 002p 
each full details of the share capital of the company and 
changes to the share capital during the year are set out in note 
16 to the group financial statements on page 77 all the 
information detailed in note 16 on page 77 is incorporated by 
reference into this report and is deemed to form part of this 
report
at the annual general meeting of the company held on  
18 april 2012 shareholders authorised the directors to allot  
up to 339180000 ordinary shares in the capital of the 
company directors will seek authority from shareholders at  
the forthcoming annual general meeting to allot up to 
357835000 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 there are 
no issued shares in the company with special rights with regard 
to control 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 33 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
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
under the rules of the company share incentive plan ‘plan’ 
eligible employees were provided with the opportunity to receive 
‘free’ shares on the listing of the company ‘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 the date of this report 
the trustees held 012 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
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 the date of this report simon 
nixon had not appointed any nonexecutive directors pursuant 
to his rights in the relationship agreement
save in respect of 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 no 
amendments are proposed to be made to the existing articles of 
association at the forthcoming annual general meeting
authority to purchase own shares
at the annual general meeting of the company held on 18 april 
2012 shareholders authorised the company to purchase in the 
market up to 50928800 of its own ordinary shares either to be 
cancelled or retained as treasury shares as at the date 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 53728838 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 longterm 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 2012 gerald corbett simon 
nixon peter plumb paul doughty david osborne graham 
donoghue michael wemms rob rowley and bruce carnegie
brown their biographical details with the exception of david 
osborne’s are set out on pages 30 and 31 david osborne 
ceased to be a director of the company with effect from 
31 december 2012 
subject to law and the company’s articles of association the 
directors may exercise all of the powers of the company and 
may delegate their power and discretion to committees
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 election at the ﬁrst annual general meeting 
following their appointment and to stand for reelection at least 
every three years following their election or last reelection
in accordance with the company’s articles of association and 
the uk corporate governance code all of the directors will 
retire at the forthcoming annual general meeting and being 
eligible will offer themselves for reelection 34 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
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 42 to 52
 
directors’ interests
details of the directors’ and their connected persons’ interests in 
the ordinary shares of the company are set out in the directors’ 
remuneration report on pages 42 to 52 no director has any 
other interest in any shares or loan stock of any group company
the details of transactions with directors of the company 
and related party transactions in the ﬁnancial year ended 
31 december 2012 are set out in note 22 to the group financial 
statements on pages 80 and 81 during the year no director 
had any material interest in any contract of signiﬁcance to the 
group’s business
directors’ and of cers’ insurance and 
indemnities
during the ﬁnancial year ended 31 december 2012 and up to 
the date of this report the company has maintained liability 
insurance for its directors and ofﬁcers
the company has granted indemnities to each of its directors 
and the company secretary to the extent permitted by law and 
its articles of association qualifying third party indemnity 
provisions and qualifying pension scheme indemnity provisions 
were in force throughout 2012 and remain in force as at the date 
of this report in relation to certain losses and liabilities which the 
directors or company secretary may incur in the course of 
acting as directors company secretary or employees of the 
company or of any associated company
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
under company law the directors must not approve the 
financial statements unless they are satisﬁed that they give a 
true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and 
company and of their proﬁt or loss 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 the 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 adequate accounting 
records that are sufﬁcient to show and explain the company’s 
transactions and 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 
2006 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
under applicable law and regulations the directors are also 
responsible for preparing a directors’ report directors’ 
remuneration report and corporate governance report that 
complies with that law and those regulations
the directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity 
of the corporate and ﬁnancial information included on the 
company’s website legislation in the uk governing the 
preparation and dissemination of ﬁnancial statements may differ 
from legislation in other jurisdictions
statement of directors’ responsibilities 
pursuant to disclosure and transparency rules 
4112
each of the directors whose names and functions are set out on 
pages 30 and 31 conﬁrms that to the best of their knowledge
 the financial statements prepared in accordance with the 
applicable set of accounting 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
internal control
the corporate governance report and audit committee report 
on pages 36 to 40 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
directors’ report continued 35 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
employees
the group places considerable value on the involvement of its 
employees and uses a number of ways to engage with 
employees on matters that impact them and the performance of 
the group these include formal half yearly business 
performance updates by members of the executive 
management team for all employees regular update brieﬁngs for 
all employees regular team meetings the group’s intranet site 
which enables easy access to the latest group information as 
well as group policies and the circulation to employees of 
results announcements and other 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 has an established employee forum through which 
nominated representatives ensure that employees’ views are 
taken into account regarding issues that are likely to affect them 
a robust employee engagement 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
all employees are able to participate in the company’s share 
incentive plan and save as you earn scheme which gives 
employees the opportunity to purchase ordinary shares in the 
company this helps to encourage employee interest in the 
performance of the group
equal opportunities
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
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
in the opinion of the directors all employee policies are deemed 
to be effective and in accordance with their intended aims
borrowings
during 2012 the group arranged a £20m revolving credit facility 
to provide cash ﬂow for the acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 
the largest amount drawn down during the period was £13m 
which was repaid in full before the end of 2012
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 set 
out in note 17 to the group financial statements on pages 77 
and 78
political and charitable donations
during the ﬁnancial year ended 31 december 2012 the group 
did not make any political donations 2011 £nil and made 
charitable donations of £37032 2011 £37454
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 
during the period the group signed up to the prompt payment 
code a government backed scheme which encourages the 
prompt payment of suppliers the provision of clear guidance on 
payment policy to suppliers as well as general best practice 
in this area the average number of trade creditor days 
outstanding for the group at 31 december 2012 was 41 days 
2011 488 the company had no trade creditors at 
31 december 2012 2011 nil
disclosure of information to auditors
the directors who held ofﬁce at the date 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 proposed to 
shareholders at that meeting
annual general meeting
the forthcoming annual general meeting of the company
will be held at the leverhulme stand chester racecourse 
the racecourse chester ch1 2ly on wednesday 17 april 
2013 at 1100am
the notice convening the forthcoming annual general meeting 
of the company with details of the business to be transacted at 
the meeting and explanatory notes is set out in a separate 
circular which has been sent to all shareholders at the same 
time as this report
by order of the board
darren drabble 
company secretary  
4 march 2013 36 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
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 uk corporate governance code published in june 2010 by 
the financial reporting council ‘code’ this corporate 
governance report describes how the principles of the code 
are applied by the company and reports on the company’s 
compliance with the code’s provisions
compliance
the board considers that the company has complied with the 
provisions of the code throughout the year ended 31 december 
2012 and to the date of this report except as set out below
board of directors
the board currently has eight members comprising the 
nonexecutive chairman gerald corbett three independent 
nonexecutive directors michael wemms rob rowley and 
bruce carnegiebrown and four executive directors simon 
nixon paul doughty peter plumb and graham donoghue 
michael wemms has been designated as the senior 
independent nonexecutive director
the board normally meets on at least eight occasions in each 
ﬁnancial year including a two day strategy conference 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 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 30 and 31 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 has reviewed the recommendations of the davies 
report as part of a wider diversity discussion and has endorsed 
a group wide diversity policy the board supports the aims 
objectives and recommendations of the davies report and in 
line with the code will continue to make board appointments on 
merit against objective criteria and with due regard for the 
beneﬁts of diversity on the board including gender
independencenonexecutive directors
the chairman and the nonexecutive directors bring wide and 
varied commercial experience to board and committee 
deliberations 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 board considers that gerald corbett was independent on 
appointment as chairman and considers michael wemms 
rob rowley and bruce carnegiebrown 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
con icts of interest
the company’s articles of association were amended at the 
2008 annual general meeting in line with the companies act 
2006 to allow the board to authorise potential conﬂicts of 
interest that may arise and to impose limits or conditions as 
appropriate when giving any authorisation any decision of the 
board to authorise a conﬂict of interest is only effective if it is 
agreed without the conﬂicted directors voting or without their 
votes being counted and in making such a decision the 
directors must act in a way they consider in good faith will be 
most likely to promote the success of the company
the company has established a procedure for the appropriate 
authorisation to be sought prior to appointment of any new 
director or prior to a new conﬂict arising and for the regular 
review of actual or potential conﬂicts of interest during the year 
this procedure was adhered to and operated effectively
relationship agreement
the single largest 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 the date of this report simon nixon had not appointed any 
nonexecutive directors pursuant to his rights in the 
relationship agreement
division of responsibilities
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
corporate governance report 37 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
the chairman is responsible for leadership of the board setting its agenda and monitoring its effectiveness he ensures effective 
communication with shareholders and that the board is aware of the views of major shareholders he facilitates both the contribution 
of the nonexecutive directors and constructive relations between the executive and nonexecutive directors
the chief executive ofﬁcer is responsible for the day to day running of the group carrying out agreed strategy and implementing 
speciﬁc board decisions
role of the board
the board is collectively responsible for the group’s performance and meets regularly to review the operation and performance of the 
group 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 investor relations section of the group’s website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom these include the 
group’s strategy business plan and annual budget acquisitions and disposals and other major investments and capital projects
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 at least one of the board’s regular meetings each year is devoted to reviewing and 
agreeing the group’s strategic direction
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 investor 
relations section of the group’s website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom they are also available in hard copy form on application to 
the company secretary
details of the work of the audit nomination and remuneration committees are given in the reports of those committees on  
pages 40 to 52
the directors who served on each of the committees during the year are set out below
committee chairman member member member
audit rob rowley gerald corbett michael wemms bruce carnegiebrown
nomination gerald corbett michael wemms rob rowley bruce carnegiebrown
remuneration bruce carnegiebrown gerald corbett rob rowley michael wemms
board and committee attendance
the attendance record of the directors at scheduled board and committee meetings during the year is set out in the following table 
the board scheduled nine meetings during the year and ad hoc conference calls and committee meetings were also convened to 
deal with speciﬁc matters which required attention between scheduled meetings
 
 
 
board
audit
committee
nomination
committee
remuneration
committee
executive directors     
simon nixon 9–––
peter plumb 9–––
paul doughty 9–––
graham donoghue 9 – – –
david osborne
1
9–––
nonexecutive directors      
gerald corbett 9226
michael wemms 9326
rob rowley 9326
bruce carnegiebrown 8 3 1 5
total number of scheduled meetings held 9326
1 david osborne ceased to be a director of the company with effect from 31 december 2012
the executive directors of the company may attend meetings of the committees at the invitation of the chairman of the respective 
committee 38 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
directors
the company’s articles of association require that new 
directors appointed by the board must retire and submit 
themselves for election by shareholders at the next annual 
general meeting following their appointment the company’s 
articles of association further require that all directors must 
retire and submit themselves for reelection at least every three 
years in accordance with the code all of the directors will retire 
at the forthcoming annual general meeting and being eligible 
will offer themselves for reelection
the company provides directors’ and ofﬁcers’ insurance cover 
for the beneﬁt of directors in respect of claims arising in the 
performance of their duties the company has also granted 
indemnities to each of its directors and the company secretary 
to the extent permitted by law and its articles of association
board evaluation
the formal annual evaluation of the performance of the board 
its committees and individual directors was undertaken during 
the year this consisted of an internally run exercise led by the 
chairman with the assistance of the company secretary the 
appraisal questionnaire used in connection with the process 
was wideranging and based on questions outlined in the code 
covering both board and committee performance the board 
considered that an internally run exercise was most appropriate 
in the current year but agreed annually to give consideration to 
whether an externally facilitated evaluation may be appropriate
the appraisal output is used to identify strengths and 
development areas and conﬁrmed that the board and its 
committees were operating effectively individual performance 
was also appraised based on onetoone interviews with the 
chairman or in the case of the chairman with the senior 
independent nonexecutive director following consultation  
with each of the other directors
development
the chairman and company secretary are responsible for 
preparing and coordinating an induction programme for newly 
appointed directors including business related presentations by 
senior management below board level as well as guidance on 
their duties responsibilities and liabilities as a director of the 
company every director has access to appropriate training as 
required following their appointment and is encouraged to 
develop their understanding of the group
information
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 
comprehensive 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 by 
senior management below board level when appropriate
the directors have access to the advice and services of the 
company secretary the company secretary is responsible for 
ensuring that board procedures are followed and providing 
advice to the board on corporate governance both the 
appointment and removal of the company secretary are matters 
for the board as a whole
directors can where they judge it necessary to discharge their 
responsibilities as directors obtain independent professional 
advice at the company’s expense no such advice was sought 
by any director during the year directors have the right to 
require that any concerns they may have are recorded in the 
appropriate board or committee minutes
shareholder relations
the board is committed to establishing and maintaining good 
communications with shareholders senior executives including 
the 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 discussed with the 
board formal presentations are given to analysts and 
shareholders covering the full year and half year results and the 
company seeks to maintain a dialogue with the various bodies 
which monitor the company’s governance policies and 
procedures the company secretary generally 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 investor relations section of 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 the chairmen of the 
audit nomination and remuneration committees will be 
available to answer questions at that 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
corporate governance report continued 39 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
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 
regularly 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
 regular reviews of the key risks facing the group to ensure 
key risks are being identiﬁed evaluated and appropriately 
managed having regard to the balance of risk cost and 
opportunity the management of risk is undertaken by the 
group risk committee chaired by the chief executive 
ofﬁcer which reviews the group risk register at least twice 
each year and reports its ﬁndings to the audit committee
 an annual two day strategy conference to discuss and 
approve the group’s strategic direction plans and objectives 
and the risks to achieving them
 an internal audit function providing assurance over key risks 
processes and controls
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 internal and external auditors in relation to 
the system of internal control and the reviews by the internal 
and external auditors of that system
the audit committee has reviewed the effectiveness of the 
group’s system of internal control and risk management during 
the year 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
share capital
details of the company’s share capital are set out in the 
directors’ report on pages 32 and 33
compliance with the code
the directors consider that during the ﬁnancial year ended 
31 december 2012 and to the date of this report the company 
complied with the code except as follows
b12 – during the year at least half the board excluding the 
chairman did not comprise independent nonexecutive 
directors the board has commenced a process to appoint an 
additional nonexecutive director which it expects to conclude 
during 2013
e11 – as a result of regular feedback provided to the board by 
the 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  
4 march 2013 40 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
the audit committee presents a separate report in relation to the 
ﬁnancial year ended 31 december 2012
composition of the audit committee
the audit committee comprises the four nonexecutive 
directors rob rowley chairman gerald corbett michael 
wemms and bruce carnegiebrown rob rowley michael 
wemms and bruce carnegiebrown 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 30 and 31 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 committees at 
intu properties plc and taylor wimpey plc the board is satisﬁed 
that rob rowley has recent and relevant ﬁnancial experience
operation of the audit committee
the audit committee met on three occasions during the year 
details of the attendance at audit committee meetings are set out 
in the corporate governance report on page 37 
the chief executive ofﬁcer chief financial ofﬁcer and company 
secretary together with the external auditors will normally attend 
meetings at the invitation of the chairman of the audit committee 
the external auditors are regularly 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 external auditors may also request a 
meeting with the audit committee if they consider it necessary
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 audit committee’s duties include
 monitoring the ﬁnancial reporting process
 monitoring the statutory audit of the group’s financial statements
 reviewing the group’s financial statements and the material 
ﬁnancial reporting judgements contained in them
 monitoring the effectiveness of the group’s internal control 
and risk management systems
 reviewing and monitoring the independence of the external 
auditors and the provision of additional services to the group
 advising the board on the appointment and removal of the 
external auditors and the remuneration and terms of 
engagement of the external auditors
 reviewing the group’s whistle blowing procedures
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
the terms of reference of the audit committee are published 
on the investor relations section of the group’s website at 
wwwmoneysupermarketcom and are available in hard copy 
form on application to the company secretary
during the year the audit committee reviewed the group’s whistle 
blowing procedures to ensure arrangements are in place to enable 
employees to raise concerns about possible malpractice or 
wrongdoing by the group or any of its employees on a conﬁdential 
basis this includes arrangements to proportionately and 
independently 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 reviews each year the effectiveness of 
and the framework for the group’s system of internal control and 
risk management 
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 in addition to this review the external 
auditors provided the audit committee with comprehensive reports 
of the results of their controls testing as part of the external audit 
on a half yearly basis the audit committee also reviewed the key 
risks facing the group and the actions being taken by management 
to mitigate and manage them
during the year the audit committee considered the need to 
establish an internal audit function and concluded that the group is 
now of a size and complexity that requires an internal audit 
function accordingly an internal audit function was established 
during 2012 and began to report to the audit committee during the 
year on the key risks facing the group and the results of their 
internal control testing
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 cost
effectiveness 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 
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 company continued to engage its external auditors to provide 
nonaudit services including the provision of advice in connection 
with tax and acquisition activities reﬂecting their knowledge and 
understanding of the group the audit committee also continued 
with the appointment of other accountancy ﬁrms to provide certain 
nonaudit services to the group in connection with tax and actuarial 
advice and anticipates that this will continue in 2013
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 
67  the audit committee discussed the level of fees and 
considered them appropriate given the current size of the group 
and the acquisition activities undertaken during the year 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  
4 march 2013
audit committee report 41 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
the nomination committee presents a separate report in 
relation to the ﬁnancial year ended 31 december 2012
composition of the nomination committee
the nomination committee comprises the four nonexecutive 
directors gerald corbett chairman michael wemms rob 
rowley and bruce carnegiebrown rob rowley michael 
wemms and bruce carnegiebrown 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 30 and 31
operation of the nomination committee
the nomination committee met on two occasions during the 
year details of the attendance at nomination committee 
meetings are set out in the corporate governance report on 
page 37
the nomination committee’s duties include
 evaluating the balance of skills knowledge and experience of 
the board
 considering the size structure and composition of the 
board
 where necessary considering and recommending to the 
board persons who are appropriate for appointment as 
directors
 ensuring that succession planning for the board is in place
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 ﬁrm careful 
consideration is given to ensure proposed 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 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
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
during the year the nomination committee reviewed the 
balance of skills independence knowledge and experience of 
the board together with the size diversity structure and 
composition of the board and reviewed the succession plans 
for the board
at the invitation of the chairman of the nomination committee 
the chief executive ofﬁcer human resources director and 
company secretary may attend meetings of the nomination 
committee 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
the terms of reference of the nomination committee are 
published on the investor relations section of the group’s 
website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom and are available in 
hard copy form on application to the company secretary
this report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
gerald corbett
chairman of the nomination committee  
4 march 2013
nomination committee report 42 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
bruce carnegiebrown
chairman of the remuneration committee
dear shareholders
i succeeded michael wemms as chairman of the remuneration committee in january 2013 and would like to pay tribute to 
michael’s tenure as chairman of the committee for the last ﬁve years michael continues as the senior independent nonexecutive 
director and continues as a member of the remuneration committee so i will continue to have the beneﬁt of his counsel in 2013
the remuneration structures of the group are designed to support the key goals of the group which are delivering a ﬁrst class 
customer experience having the best “shop” in terms of the products we offer our customers and delivering superior returns to our 
shareholders we aim to balance the desire for continued rapid growth in the business with a commitment to effective risk 
management consistent with best practice the committee offers a reward package comprising a base salary pension 
contributions a bonus and long term share awards linked to the ﬁnancial performance of the group the committee believes that 
the group’s remuneration structures are appropriate for our business model
while the structure of the group’s remuneration plan has remained unchanged in 2012 for 2013 we have awarded some signiﬁcant 
base salary rises to the executive directors and have introduced changes to the pension scheme for the executive directors which 
are described in detail on page 45 our decision to do this is based on our desire to recruit and retain the best talent in the media 
and technology sectors and we have had direct experience of the competitive pressures we face in doing this as we have been in the 
market to recruit a new marketing director and are currently recruiting a new it director for the group these changes also reﬂect 
the increasing complexity of the group and its growth to date
the group operates a “pay for performance” culture and the committee reviews both ﬁnancial and nonﬁnancial performance 
targets each year to ensure they are appropriately challenging and relevant for the markets in which we operate against this 
background 2012 has been another year of strong performance for the group with adjusted revenue increasing by 15 to £2048m 
and adjusted ebitda increasing by 26 to £665m total shareholder return for the year was 62
this report provides further details of the group’s remuneration principles policies and compensation awards for the executive 
directors in 2012 these reﬂect both the successful year we have just completed and the competitive environment in which the 
group is engaged
we will continue to monitor developments in executive pay to ensure that our compensation policies are aligned with the market’s 
recommended best practices
consistent with the draft proposals on directors’ pay which were published by the department for business innovation and skills in 
june 2012 the report has been split into two sections a remuneration policy report which sets out the policy on the remuneration 
of the directors and an implementation report which discloses how the remuneration policy has been implemented in the year 
ended 31 december 2012 we will be seeking your support for both parts of the report by way of a single advisory vote at the 
forthcoming agm on 17 april 2013
yours sincerely
bruce carnegiebrown
chairman of the remuneration committee  
4 march 2013
directors’ remuneration report
letter from the remuneration committee chairman 43 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
the directors’ remuneration report has been prepared by the remuneration committee and approved by the board for the 
ﬁnancial year ended 31 december 2012 it has been prepared in accordance with the companies act 2006 the 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 the report is split into two sections a remuneration 
policy report and an implementation report and will be subject to an advisory shareholder vote at the forthcoming annual general 
meeting kpmg audit plc have audited the implementation report to the extent required by law
remuneration policy report
the remuneration committee comprises the four nonexecutive directors bruce carnegiebrown chairman gerald corbett rob 
rowley and michael wemms bruce carnegiebrown 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 
remuneration committee are set out on pages 30 and 31
at the invitation of the chairman of the remuneration committee the chief executive ofﬁcer human resources director and 
company secretary 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 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
the remuneration committee’s duties include
 determining and agreeing with the board the framework and policy for the remuneration of the chairman executive directors and 
executive management team
 determining the remuneration package of the chairman executive directors and executive management team including where 
appropriate bonuses incentive payments and pension arrangements within the terms of the agreed framework and policy
 determining awards under the company’s long term incentive schemes
the remuneration committee met on six occasions during the year details of the attendance at remuneration committee meetings 
are set out in the corporate governance report on page 37
the remuneration committee’s terms of reference are published on the investor relations section of 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 and the company received advice from towers watson who are independent 
remuneration consultants in connection with remuneration matters including the group’s performance related remuneration policy 
towers watson is a member of the remuneration consultants group and is committed to that group’s voluntary code of practice for 
remuneration consultants in the uk towers watson has no other connection or relationship with the group and has not provided 
any other services to the group during the ﬁnancial year ended 31 december 2012 44 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
remuneration policy and objectives
the company aims to provide a remuneration structure that is aligned with shareholder interests and as such is competitive in the 
marketplace to attract retain and motivate executive directors of superior calibre in order to deliver continued growth of the 
business company policy is that performancerelated components should form a signiﬁcant portion of the overall remuneration 
package with maximum total potential rewards being earned through the achievement of challenging performance targets based 
on measures that represent the best interests of our key stakeholders including shareholders and customers
the chart below illustrates how the composition of the chief executive ofﬁcer’s remuneration package varies at different levels of 
performance under the 2013 policy both as a percentage of total remuneration opportunity and as a total value
the remuneration committee will continue to review the remuneration policy to ensure it remains consistent with best remuneration 
practice and is aligned to shareholders’ interests the remuneration committee believes the policy described above which applied 
in 2012 remains appropriate and that it will continue in 2013
components of remuneration
the table opposite summarises the main components of the company’s remuneration policy for executive directors which operated 
for 2012 and highlights changes made to the policy for 2013
directors’ remuneration report continued
0
£500000
£1000000
£1500000
£2000000
£2500000
below
threshold
81
19
14 6
4
61
25
36
33
41
35
25 20
■ ltip
■ annual bonus
■ pension  other beneﬁts
■ salary
threshold target maximum 45 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
element of 
remuneration
purpose and link to 
strategy operation maximum performance measure changes from 2012
base 
salary
 to provide competitive 
ﬁxed remuneration
 to attract and retain 
executive directors of 
superior calibre in 
order to deliver growth 
for the business
 intended to reﬂect 
base salaries paid to 
executive directors of 
comparable 
companies
 the base salary for 
each executive 
director is reviewed 
annually by the 
remuneration 
committee
 individual salary 
adjustments take into 
account each 
executive director’s 
performance against 
agreed challenging 
objectives experience 
in role changes in 
responsibility and the 
group’s ﬁnancial 
performance as well 
as comparing each 
executive director’s 
base salary to the 
external market
2012 actual
ceo £390000
cfo £270400
md financial services 
£235664
deputy chairman 
£105000
2013 actual
ceo £425000
cfo £285000
md financial services 
£258995
deputy chairman 
£108000
 individual contribution
 sustained value in the 
business
 increase of 9 for 
ceo 5 for cfo 
10 for md financial 
services and 3 for 
deputy chairman 
compared to group 
employees who 
received salary 
increases averaging 
3 with increases 
depending on 
individual performance
bonus incentivises annual 
achievement of 
performance targets
 maximum bonus only 
payable for achieving 
demanding targets
 not pensionable
 paid in cash
 deputy chairman 
does not participate in 
the bonus scheme
2012  of base salary
ceo 185
cfo 165
md financial services 
150
deputy chairman – not 
applicable
2013  of base salary
ceo 185
cfo 165
md financial services 
150 
deputy chairman – not 
applicable
 a combination of 
growth in group 
adjusted ebitda and 
revenue 80 of total 
and speciﬁc individual 
objectives 20  
of total
 no change
long term 
incentive 
plan
 designed to align with 
both the strategic 
objectives of delivering 
sustainable earnings 
growth and the 
interests of 
shareholders
 annual grant of nil cost 
options which vest 
after 3 years subject 
to performance targets 
and continued service
 deputy chairman 
does not participate 
in the ltip scheme
2012  of base salary
ceo 200
cfo 150
md financial services 
150
deputy chairman – not 
applicable
2013  of base salary
ceo 200
cfo 150
md financial services 
150
deputy chairman – not 
applicable
 ltip performance 
measured over 3 years
 70 group adjusted 
ebitda growth of 
which 30 vesting for 
annual compound 
growth of 6 and 
150 vesting for 
annual compound 
growth of 17
 30 comparative tsr 
of which 30 vesting 
for median increasing 
to 150 vesting for 
upper quartile of the 
ftse 250
 performance 
conditions for 2013 
ltip to be determined 
by the remuneration 
committee during the 
ﬁrst quarter of 2013
pension provide competitive 
retirement beneﬁts
 executive directors 
participate in a deﬁned 
contribution scheme
2012 actual
10 of base salary
2013 actual
20 of base salary
 not applicable contribution level has 
increased from 10 to 
20 of base salary
beneﬁts provide competitive 
beneﬁts
 car allowance £14000 per annum not applicable no change 46 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
detailed policy
base salary
the base salary for each executive director is reviewed annually by the remuneration committee with effect from 1 january each 
year it is intended that base salary levels should reﬂect those paid to executive directors of comparable companies selected on the 
basis of market sector market capitalisation and turnover individual salary adjustments take into account each executive director’s 
performance against agreed challenging objectives experience in role changes in responsibility and the group’s ﬁnancial 
performance as well as comparing each executive director’s base salary to senior management in the group and relative to the 
external market the remuneration committee used towers watson to provide comparative market data
further details of the base salary increases for the executive directors are set out in the implementation report on page 49
the group’s employees received salary increases averaging 3 with increases depending on individual performance
incentive plans
the remuneration committee seeks to ensure that variable pay is determined by relevant and stretching measures of performance 
that are consistent with the strategic objectives of the group in order to appropriately align executive directors’ interests with those 
of key stakeholders including shareholders and customers
performance related bonus
in 2012 performance targets were approved by the remuneration committee at the beginning of the year and were aligned to 
internal targets and strategic business objectives in setting bonus targets the remuneration committee seeks to link individual 
targets to areas of the business in which the executive directors have particular inﬂuence and responsibility while also seeking to 
maintain a keen team ethos
the table below shows the target and maximum bonus awards made to the executive directors as a percentage of base salary 
in 2012 together with details of the performance conditions set by the remuneration committee at the beginning of 2012
target maximum performance conditions for 2012 bonus
peter plumb 135 185 target bonus is payable for achievement of
 growth in group adjusted ebitda and revenue 80 of 
target award 
 speciﬁc individual objectives including building brand 
awareness improving the best shop for customers and 
certain other strategic projects 20 of target award
the maximum award is payable for the achievement of 
exceptional adjusted ebitda performance targets as 
well as the achievement of individual objectives
paul doughty 110 165
graham donoghue 100 150
david osborne resigned 31 december 2012 100 150
simon nixon
1
  0  0
1 simon nixon does not participate in the group’s performance related bonus scheme
further details of the bonus amounts paid to the executive directors are set out in the implementation report on page 50
the remuneration committee has reviewed the bonus structure for the executive directors for 2013 the remuneration committee 
has determined that the target and maximum bonus potential will remain the same as 2012 and the split of targets will be consistent 
with those used in 2012
long term incentive plan
annual grants of conditional nil cost share awards are made at the discretion of the remuneration committee to senior executives 
and managers the awards normally vest at the end of the three year performance 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
participants receive a payment in cash andor shares at the remuneration committee’s discretion on or shortly following the vesting 
of their awards of an amount equal to the dividends that would have been paid on those vested shares between the time when the 
awards were granted and the time when they vest
directors’ remuneration report continued 47 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
the following table provides further detail on the awards made in 2012 which relate to performance in the three year period 2012 to 
2014 inclusive
face value
1
performance conditions for 2012 awards
peter plumb 200 comparative tsr 
30 of the award is subject to a comparative tsr performance condition relative 
to the ftse 250 
threshold vesting 
30 of the comparative tsr element of the award vests at median performance 
maximum vesting 
150 of the comparative tsr element of the award vests at upper quartile 
performance 
vesting is on a straight line between threshold and maximum 
adjusted ebitda
70 of the award is subject to an adjusted ebitda performance condition 
threshold vesting 
30 of the adjusted ebitda element of the award vests at threshold 
performance of annual compound growth of adjusted ebitda of 6 
maximum vesting 
150 of the adjusted ebitda element of the award vests at stretch performance 
of annual compound growth of adjusted ebitda of 17
vesting is determined by a set formula between threshold and maximum
paul doughty 150
graham donoghue 150
david osborne
2
150
simon nixon
3
0
1  based on market price at date of grant these ﬁgures relate to the maximum available if the performance targets are met in full representing 150 of the actual awards made
2 david osborne resigned as a director with effect from 31 december 2012 the 2012 award granted to him has been forfeit in its entirety
3 simon nixon does not participate in the group’s long term incentive plan
in order for the grants to vest the remuneration committee must be satisﬁed that such vesting is justiﬁed when taking into account 
the underlying ﬁnancial performance of the group over the three year performance period
the remuneration committee will meet once the results for the three year plan period are available to determine whether and the 
extent to which the performance conditions have been met
the remuneration committee considers that this combination of performance conditions is an appropriate way of rewarding 
executive directors because it takes into account both the long term returns to shareholders and the group’s ﬁnancial growth the 
performance conditions to be applied to awards granted in 2013 will be reviewed and determined by the remuneration committee 
during the ﬁrst quarter of 2013
other share plans
executive directors have the opportunity to participate in the company’s hmrc approved all employee share incentive plan which 
provides employees with the opportunity to purchase shares in the company on a monthly basis using money deducted from their 
pretax salary
executive directors also have the opportunity to participate in the company’s hmrc approved all employee sharesave scheme 
which provides employees with the opportunity to purchase shares in the company at the end of a three year period using money 
deducted monthly from their salary at up to a 20 discount to the price of the company’s shares at the date employees are invited 
to join the scheme
pension
the company operates a deﬁned contribution pension scheme for the beneﬁt of employees including the executive directors in all 
cases base salary only is pensionable the remuneration committee’s policy is to provide competitive retirement beneﬁts for the 
executive directors with effect from 1 january 2013 the company increased the pension contributions it makes from 10 to 20 
of base salary for the beneﬁt of the executive directors 48 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
bene ts
the company provides a car allowance of £14000 per annum for each of the executive directors the remuneration committee’s 
policy is to provide a competitive car allowance for the executive directors
service agreements
the service agreements of the executive directors are not ﬁxed term and are terminable by either the company or the director on 12 
months’ notice and make provision at the remuneration committee’s discretion for early termination by way of payment of salary in 
lieu of 12 months’ notice in calculating the amount payable to a director on termination of employment the remuneration 
committee would take into account the commercial interests of the company and apply usual common law and contractual 
principles there are no special provisions for executive directors in their service agreements with regard to compensation in the 
event of loss of ofﬁce
the remuneration committee reviews the contractual terms for new executive directors to ensure these reﬂect best practice the 
service agreements of the current executive directors include the following terms
effective date of service
agreement
unexpired term
approximate months from
31 december 2012
1
notice period from director
months
notice period from company
months
executive directors
simon nixon 25 february 2009 12 12 12
peter plumb 25 february 2009 12 12 12
paul doughty 31 july 2007 12 12 12
graham donoghue 23 february 2009 12 12 12
1 executive directors are appointed on 12 month rolling contracts 
other appointments
executive directors may accept outside appointments on external boards or committees with the prior approval of the board 
provided these opportunities do not negatively impact on the individual’s ability to perform his duties at the company whether any 
related fees are retained by the individual or are remitted to the company will be considered on a case by case basis
 
in addition to his directorship of companies in the group simon nixon is a director of simonseekscom limited simon family ofﬁce 
limited atlantic paradise limited atlantic serenity holding limited and simonescapes properties sl in all 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 
hd decisions limited a company in which the group owns 25 of the share capital no other executive director holds any 
directorship of any other company outside the group
nonexecutive directors
the company’s approach to nonexecutive directors’ remuneration is set by the board with account taken of the time and 
responsibility involved in each role including where applicable the chairmanship of board committees nonexecutive directors 
receive a fee as disclosed in the implementation report below determined by external benchmarks based on their time and work 
on the board and the board committees including a supplement for chairing a committee they do not participate in any bonus 
share option or other performance related incentive schemes 
the current fees of the nonexecutive directors are as follows
name
2013
 £
2012 
£  increase
chairman 206000 200000 3
other nonexecutive director base fee 56650 55000 3
additional fees
senior independent nonexecutive director 15000 15000 no change
committee chair fees 10000 10000 no change
in addition the chairman receives an annual allowance of £25000 for a motor vehicle and associated costs 
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
directors’ remuneration report continued 49 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
effective date of letter of
appointment
unexpired term
approximate months from
31 december 2012
notice period from director
months
notice period from company
months
nonexecutive directors
gerald corbett 31 july 2010 7 12 12
michael wemms 31 july 2010 7 12 12
rob rowley 19 september 2010 9 0 12
bruce carnegiebrown 15 april 2010 4 12 12
shareholding guideline
the remuneration committee has discussed with executive directors and encourages each of them to invest in the company’s shares 
to further align their interests with those of shareholders the remuneration committee will review investments made by executive 
directors on a regular basis the remuneration committee will implement a minimum shareholding policy by january 2014
implementation report
the following information has been audited by the company’s auditors as required by the companies act 2006
directors’ remuneration
details of individual directors’ remuneration received during the year are as follows
basic salary
fees
£
taxable
beneﬁts
£
1
performance
related
bonus
£
2
pension
contributions
£
total
2012
£
total
2011
£
executive directors
simon nixon 105000 – – – 105000 105000
peter plumb 390000 14000 675000 39000 1118000 1026131
paul doughty 270400 14000 395000 27040 706440 634651
graham donoghue 235664 14000 297000 23566 570230 569171
david osborne resigned 31 december 2012
3
208000 14000 268000 20800 510800 473884
nonexecutive directors
gerald corbett 200000 25000 – – 225000 225000
michael wemms 80000––– 80000 80000
rob rowley 65000––– 65000 65000
bruce carnegiebrown 55000––– 55000 55000
total 1609064 81000 1635000 110406 3435470 3233838
1  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
2 relates to the bonus earned in the period under review but paid following the end of the ﬁnancial year
3 in line with david osborne’s service agreement following his resignation david osbourne received contractual payments in lieu of notice totalling £242800 which 
broadly comprised one years salary car allowance and pension contributions at 10 of base salary
base salary
taking into account the factors identiﬁed in the remuneration policy report the remuneration committee has determined that base 
salaries for the executive directors will increase as shown in the table below
 
 
 base salary 
as at
 1 january 
2012
£
 base salary 
as at
 1 january 
2013
£  increase 
peter plumb 390000 425000 9
paul doughty 270400 285000 5
graham donoghue 235664 258995 10
simon nixon 105000 108000 3 50 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
performance related bonus
details of the actual performance related bonuses earned by the executive directors for the year ended 31 december 2012 together 
with the split between the different elements of the bonus award are as follows
growth in group ebitda and 
revenue
speciﬁc individual  
and strategic objectives total
name
maximum 
 of salary
actual 
 of salary
maximum 
 of salary
actual 
 of salary
maximum 
 of salary
paid 
£
actual 
 of salary
peter plumb 148 138 37 35 185 675000 173
paul doughty 120 112 45 34 165 395000 146
graham donoghue 120 112 30 14 150 297000 126
david osborne resigned 31 december 2012 120 112 30 17 150 268000 129
the actual growth in group adjusted ebitda from £525m in 2011 to £665m in 2012 an increase of 26 and the actual growth in 
adjusted revenue from £1785m in 2011 to £2048m in 2012 an increase of 15 resulted in bonuses of the percentages of base 
salary set out in the table above
the growth in adjusted ebitda and revenue was above target but below maximum the individual and strategic objectives were 
deemed to have been partially met by the remuneration committee
directors’ interests in shares
the beneﬁcial interests of the directors and their connected persons in the shares of the company are shown below
31 december
2012
31 december
2011
executive directors
simon nixon 259795130 267257021
peter plumb 250000 –
paul doughty 670447 1826364
graham donoghue 191337 –
david osborne resigned 31 december 2012 45705 –
nonexecutive directors
gerald corbett 237246 237246
michael wemms 7530 7268
rob rowley – –
bruce carnegiebrown 20000 20000
the directors’ shareholdings shown above are all beneﬁcial interests and include the interests of their spouses civil partners and 
infant children or stepchildren together with the interests in shares held on behalf of the executive directors by the trustee of the 
company’s share incentive plan no director held a nonbeneﬁcial interest in any shares
in the period 31 december 2012 to the date 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 2013 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 142 ordinary shares during 
this period
directors’ remuneration report continued 51 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
directors’ interests in the long term incentive plan and save as you earn scheme
full details of the executive directors’ interests in the long term incentive plan and save as you earn scheme are shown below
date
of award
at start of
yeardate of
appointment
granted
during
year
vested
exercised
during
year
lapsed
during
year
at end of
yeardate of
cessation
market price of
shares at
 date of grant
p
vestingexercise
date
peter plumb
2009 ltip 8 apr 2009 1145288 – 1080871 64417 – 535 8 apr 2012
2010 ltip 7 apr 2010 1035519 – – – 1035519 750 7 apr 2013
2011 ltip 9 mar 2011 838424 – – – 838424 944 9 mar 2014
2011 saye 28 sep 2011 10044––– 10044 1089 nov 2014 – apr 2015
2012 ltip 22 june 2012 – 664204 – – 664204 1232 22 june 2015
total 3029275 664204 1080871 64417 2548191
paul doughty
2009 ltip 8 apr 2009 1308901 – 1235282 73619 – 535 8 apr 2012
2010 ltip 7 apr 2010 556133 – – – 556133 750 7 apr 2013
2011 ltip 9 mar 2011 437 073 – – – 437 073 944 9 mar 2014
2011 saye 28 sep 2011 10044––– 10044 1089 nov 2014 – apr 2015
2012 ltip 22 june 2012 – 346252 – – 346252 1232 22 june 2015
total 2312151 346252 1235282 73619 1349502
graham donoghue
2009 ltip 8 apr 2009 863874 – 815286 48588 – 535 8 apr 2012
2010 ltip 7 apr 2010 489396 – – – 489396 750 7 apr 2013
2011 ltip 9 mar 2011 380925––– 380925 944 9 mar 2014
2011 saye 28 sep 2011 10044––– 10044 1089 nov 2014 – apr 2015
2012 ltip 22 june 2012 – 301771 – – 301771 1232 22 june 2015
total 1744239 301771 815286 48588 1182136
david osborne
2009 ltip 8 apr 2009 484293 – 457 054 27 239 – 535 8 apr 2012
2010 ltip 7 apr 2010 422661 – – – 422661 750 7 apr 2013
2011 ltip 9 mar 2011 336210 – – 130748 205462 944 9 mar 2014
2011 saye 28 sep 2011 10044––– 10044 1089 nov 2014 – apr 2015
2012 ltip 22 june 2012 – 266347 – 266347 – 1232 22 june 2015
total 1253208 266347 457054 424334 638167
1  awards of nil cost options made in 2009 vest 30 at threshold performance and 100 at maximum performance with 70 of the award subject to an annual adjusted 
editda performance condition and 30 of the award subject to a comparative tsr performance condition
2  awards of nil cost options made in 2010 vest 30 at median performance and 150 at upper quartile performance in relation to the comparative tsr performance 
condition and 50 at threshold performance and 150 at stretch performance in relation to the absolute tsr performance condition with 70 of the award subject to 
the absolute tsr performance condition and 30 of the award subject to the comparative tsr performance condition
3  awards of nil cost options made in 2011 vest 30 at median performance and 150 at upper quartile performance in relation to the comparative tsr performance 
condition and 50 at threshold performance and 150 at stretch performance in relation to the absolute tsr performance condition with 50 of the award subject to 
the absolute tsr performance condition and 50 of the award subject to the comparative tsr performance condition
4  details of the performance conditions relating to the awards of nil cost options made in 2012 are set out on pages 46 and 47
5  the ﬁgures for the long term incentive plan awards made in 2010 2011 and 2012 are the maximum available if the performance targets are met in full representing 
150 of the actual awards made
6  the awards of nil cost options made in 2009 actually vested on 11 june 2012 a date that was as soon as reasonably practicable after the announcement of the 
acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom
7 in addition to the shares that vested on 11 june 2012 in connection with the 2009 ltip the directors received a cash payment equivalent to 2563p per share that 
vested representing an amount equal to the dividends that would have been paid on those vested shares between 8 april 2009 and 8 april 2012
in the period from 1 january 2012 to 31 december 2012 the highest midmarket price of the company’s share was 170p and the 
lowest midmarket price was 102p and at 31 december 2012 it was 157p 52 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
total shareholder return performance graph
the following graph shows the total shareholder return of the company in comparison to an appropriate index over the last ﬁve 
ﬁnancial years
moneysupermarketcom group plc
ftse 250 index 
excluding investment trusts
dec12 dec11 dec10 dec09 dec08 dec07
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
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
this report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
bruce carnegiebrown
chairman of the remuneration committee 
4 march 2013
directors’ remuneration report continued 53 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
corporate governance
we have audited the group and company financial statements the ‘financial statements’ of moneysupermarketcom group plc 
the ‘company’ for the year ended 31 december 2012 set out on pages 54 to 87 the ﬁnancial reporting framework that has been 
applied in the preparation of the group financial statements is applicable law and international financial reporting standards 
‘ifrss’ as adopted by the eu the ﬁnancial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the company financial 
statements is applicable law and uk accounting standards uk generally accepted accounting practice
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body in accordance with chapter 3 of part 16 of the companies act 
2006 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 auditors’ 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 auditor
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement set out on page 34 the directors are responsible for the 
preparation of the financial statements and for being satisﬁed that they give a true and fair view our responsibility is to audit and 
express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and international standards on auditing uk and 
ireland those standards require us to comply with the auditing practices board’s apb’s ethical standards for auditors
scope of the audit of the financial statements
a description of the scope of an audit of financial statements is provided on the apb’s website at 
wwwfrcorgukapbauditscopeukprivate
opinion on financial statements
in our opinion
 the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the company’s affairs as at 31 december 
2012 and of the group’s proﬁt for the year then ended 
 the group financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the eu 
 the company financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with uk generally accepted accounting practice 
 the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the companies act 2006 and as regards 
the group financial statements article 4 of the ias regulation
opinion on other matters prescribed by the companies act 2006
in our opinion
 the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited has been properly prepared in accordance with the companies act 2006 and 
 the information given in the directors’ report for the ﬁnancial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent 
with the financial statements and 
 the information given in the corporate governance report set out on pages 36 to 39 with respect to internal control and risk management 
systems in relation to ﬁnancial reporting processes and about share capital structures is consistent with the financial statements
matters on which we are required to report by exception
we have nothing to report in respect of the following
under the companies act 2006 we are required to report to you if in our opinion
 adequate accounting records have not been kept by the company or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from 
branches not visited by us or 
 the company financial statements and the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited are not in agreement with 
the accounting records and returns or 
 certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration speciﬁed by law are not made or 
 we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit or 
 a corporate governance report has not been prepared by the company
under the listing rules we are required to review
 the directors’ statement set out on page 32 in relation to going concern
 the part of the corporate governance report on pages 36 to 39 relating to the company’s compliance with the nine provisions of 
the uk corporate governance code speciﬁed for our review and 
 certain elements of the report to shareholders by the board on directors’ remuneration
stuart burdass senior statutory auditor
for and on behalf of kpmg audit plc statutory auditor 
chartered accountants st james’ square manchester m2 6ds
4 march 2013
independent auditor’s report
to the members of moneysupermarketcom group plc 54 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
note
year ended
31 december
2012
£000
year ended
31 december
2011
£000
revenue 204752 181048
cost of sales 53046 50156
gross proﬁt 151706 130892
distribution expenses 30471 29766
administrative expenses 89710 77083
results from operating activities 5 31525 24043
net ﬁnance costsincome 7 143 239
share of proﬁt of associates using the equity accounting method net of tax 23 158 –
proﬁt before income tax 31540 24282
income tax costs 8 6708 7494
proﬁt for the year 24832 16788
other comprehensive income
foreign currency translation 7 –
other comprehensive income for the year 7 –
total comprehensive income for the year 24839 16788
all proﬁt and comprehensive income is attributable to the equity holders of the company
earnings per share
basic earnings per ordinary share p 9 48 33
diluted earnings per ordinary share p 9 47 32
consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 december 2012 55 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
note
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
assets
noncurrent assets
property plant and equipment 11 10554 10952
intangible assets 12 197573 160634
investments in associates 1158 1000
total noncurrent assets 209285 172586
current assets
trade and other receivables 13 20768 15974
prepayments 1843 1896
cash and cash equivalents 17 18680 35005
total current assets 41291 52875
total assets 250576 225461
liabilities
noncurrent liabilities
other payables 14 2521 –
deferred tax liability 15 13432 23251
total noncurrent liabilities 15953 23251
current liabilities
trade and other payables 14 27291 28898
current tax liabilities 7597 6750
total current liabilities 34888 35648
total liabilities 50841 58899
equity
share capital 16 107 102
share premium 201824 171297
retained earnings 65987 78970
other reserves 63791 74133
total equity 199735 166562
total equity and liabilities 250576 225461
the financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 4 march 2013 they were signed on 
its behalf by
peter plumb
paul doughty
consolidated statement of  
financial position
at 31 december 2012 56 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
note
issued
share
capital
£000
share
premium
£000
other
reserves
£000
retained
earnings
£000
reserve
for own
shares
£000
total
£000
at 1 january 2011 102 171297 84481 68239 – 187641
proﬁt for the year – – – 16788 – 16788
total income and expense for the year – – – 16788 – 16788
equity dividends 10 – – – 40538 – 40538
sharebased payment 18 – – – 2200 – 2200
tax effect of sharebased payments – – – 471 – 471
reserves transfer – – 10348 10348 – –
at 31 december 2011 102 171297 74133 78970 – 166562
foreign currency translation – – 7 – – 7
proﬁt for the year – – – 24832 – 24832
total income and expense for the year – – 7 24832 – 24839
new shares issued 4 30527 – – 30531
exercise of ltip awards 1 –––– 1
distribution in relation to ltip – – – 1506 – 1506
equity dividends 10 – – – 24704 – 24704
sharebased payment 18 – – – 1979 – 1979
tax effect of sharebased payments – – – 2033 – 2033
reserves transfer – – 10349 10349 – –
at 31 december 2012 107 201824 63791 65987 – 199735
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 below and a capital redemption reserve for £19000 arising from the 
acquisition of 95294118 deferred shares of 002p by the company from simon nixon
upon the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited a merger reserve of £60750000 for 15 of the fair value 
of assets acquired 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 were recognised amounts are transferred from these reserves to retained earnings as the goodwill and 
other intangibles balances which relate to this acquisition are impaired and amortised
the balance also includes a foreign currency translation reserve which 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’s ordinary shares held by the group 
at 31 december 2012 the group held 622279 ordinary shares at a cost of 002p per share through a trust for the beneﬁt of the 
group’s employees
consolidated statement of  
changes in equity
for the year ended 31 december 2012 57 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
note
year ended
31 december
2012
£000
year ended
31 december
2011
£000
operating activities
proﬁt for the year 24832 16788
adjustments to reconcile group net proﬁt to net cash ﬂows
 depreciation 11 3581 3819
 amortisation of intangible assets 12 26148 24202
 impairment of goodwill and intangible assets 12 5945 2199
 share of proﬁt of associates 23 158 –
 change in contingent consideration 3 185 2222
 loss on disposal of property plant and equipment 4 28
 net ﬁnance costsincome 7 143 239
 equitysettled sharebased payment transactions 18 1979 2200
 effects of foreign exchange differences 7 1
 income tax charge 8 6708 7494
 change in trade and other receivables 4743 708
 change in trade and other payables 916 5751
 income tax paid 13646 12621
net cash ﬂow from operating activities 51517 48108
investing activities
interest received 7 197 304
acquisition of trade and assets 3 35000 –
acquisition of subsidiary net of cash acquired 3 – 508
acquisition of noncontrolling interest – 1000
acquisition of property plant and equipment 11 3170 4054
acquisition of intangible assets 12 3517 3900
net cash ﬂow from investing activities 41490 9158
financing activities
proceeds from exercise of long term incentive plan 1 –
proceeds from borrowings 17 13000 –
repayment of borrowings 17 13000 –
interest paid 3 144 –
distribution in relation to long term incentive plan 1506 –
dividends paid 10 24703 40538
net cash ﬂow from ﬁnancing activities 26352 40538
net decrease in cash and cash equivalents 16325 1588
cash and cash equivalents at start of year 35005 36593
cash and cash equivalents at end of year 17 18680 35005
consolidated statement of  
cash flows
for the year ended 31 december 2012 58 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
1 corporate information
the consolidated financial statements of moneysupermarketcom group plc ‘company’ a company incorporated in england 
and its subsidiaries for the year ended 31 december 2012 were authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the directors 
on 4 march 2013 the consolidated 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 82 to 87
2 summary of signi cant accounting policies
basis of preparation
the financial statements are prepared on the historical cost basis comparative ﬁgures presented in the financial statements 
represent the year ended 31 december 2011 the financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis which the directors 
deem appropriate given the group’s positive cash position lack of debt and continued growth and forecast proﬁtability
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
 note 3 acquisitions
 note 3 contingent consideration and remuneration
 note 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
 note 21 commitments and contingencies
basis of consolidation
these consolidated financial statements incorporate the financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries and equity 
account the group’s interest in associates
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 
consolidated financial statements from the date that control commences until the date that control ceases
associates are those entities in which the group has signiﬁcant inﬂuence but not control over the ﬁnancial and operating policies 
signiﬁcant inﬂuence is presumed to exist when the group holds between 20 and 50 of the voting power of another entity 
investments in associates are accounted for using the equity method and are recognised initially at cost the consolidated financial 
statements include the group’s share of the proﬁt or loss and other comprehensive income of equity accounted investees after 
adjustments to align the accounting policies with those of the group from the date that signiﬁcant inﬂuence commences until the 
date that signiﬁcant inﬂuence ceases
accounting for business combinations
from 1 january 2010 the group has applied ifrs 3 business combinations 2008 in accounting for business combinations  
the change in accounting policy has been applied prospectively
business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method as at the acquisition date which is the date on which control 
is transferred to the group control is the power to govern the ﬁnancial and operating policies of an entity so as to obtain beneﬁts 
from its activities in assessing control the group takes into consideration potential voting rights that currently are exercisable
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements 59 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
2 summary of signi cant accounting policies continued
acquisitions on or after 1 january 2010
for acquisitions on or after 1 january 2010 the group measures goodwill at the acquisition date as 
 the fair value of the consideration transferred plus 
 the recognised amount of any noncontrolling interests in the acquiree plus
 if the business combination is achieved in stages the fair value of the existing equity interest in the acquiree less 
 the net recognised amount generally fair value of the identiﬁable assets acquired and liabilities assumed
when the excess is negative a bargain purchase gain is recognised immediately in proﬁt or loss
the consideration transferred does not include amounts related to the settlement of preexisting relationships such amounts are 
generally recognised in proﬁt or loss
costs related to the acquisition other than those associated with the issue of debt or equity securities that the group incurs in 
connection with a business combination are expensed as incurred
any contingent consideration payable is recognised at fair value at the acquisition date if the contingent consideration is classiﬁed as 
equity it is not remeasured and settlement is accounted for within equity otherwise subsequent changes to the fair value of the 
contingent consideration are recognised in proﬁt or loss where the contingent consideration is dependent on future employment it 
shall be treated as a cost of continuing employment and therefore is recognised as an expense over the relevant period
acquisitions between 22 june 2007 and 1 january 2010
for acquisitions between 22 june 2007 and 1 january 2010 goodwill represents the excess of the cost of the acquisition over the 
group’s interest in the recognised amount generally fair value of the identiﬁable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities of the 
acquiree when the excess was negative a bargain purchase gain was recognised immediately in proﬁt or loss
transaction costs other than those associated with the issue of debt or equity securities that the group incurred in connection with 
business combinations were capitalised as part of the cost of the acquisition
the group was established via a series of transactions that occurred concurrently on 22 june 2007 these comprised the incorporation 
of the company with simon nixon as sole shareholder the acquisition by the company using a share for share exchange of simon 
nixon’s 45 interest in moneysupermarketcom financial group limited and the acquisition by the company of all other shares in 
moneysupermarketcom financial group limited from third parties the acquisition of simon nixon’s shares was between two parties 
being simon nixon and the company who were under common control at the time of the transaction the acquisition was of an interest 
in a company which gave the investor a signiﬁcant inﬂuence in the company and it was concluded that this arrangement was a common 
control transaction and not within the scope of ifrs 3 business combinations as a result the company accounted for this 45 interest 
in moneysupermarketcom financial group limited at original carrying value rather than fair value at the date of the acquisition the 
acquisition of the remaining shares in moneysupermarketcom financial group limited was accounted for in accordance with ifrs 3 
business combinations applying the accounting guidance for a business combination achieved in stages this resulted in the fair value 
of the identiﬁable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities of moneysupermarketcom financial group limited being recognised in full 
and the goodwill in respect of the acquisition from third parties being recognised
foreign currency
the consolidated financial statements are presented in sterling which is the company’s functional and presentation currency the 
functional currency of the foreign subsidiary 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
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
revenue is recognised net of value added tax 60 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
2 summary of signi cant accounting policies continued
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
depreciation is charged to the statement of comprehensive income 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
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 
straightline 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 
statement of comprehensive income 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 consolidated statement of comprehensive income
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 61 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
2 summary of signi cant accounting policies continued
research and development
expenditure on research activities undertaken with the prospect of gaining technical knowledge and understanding is charged to the 
consolidated statement of comprehensive income when incurred development expenditure is capitalised when it meets the criteria 
outlined in ias 38 expenditure that does not meet the criteria is expensed directly to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income
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 consolidated statement of cash flows
 mployee bene ts
de ned contribution plans
obligations for contributions to deﬁned contribution pension plans are recognised as an expense in the consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income as incurred
share based payment transactions
the group’s share schemes allow certain group employees to acquire ordinary shares in the company the fair value of share 
awards made is recognised as an employee expense with a corresponding increase in equity the fair value is measured at award 
date and spread over the period during which the employees become unconditionally entitled to the awards the fair values of the 
share awards are measured using the monte carlo method for options subject to a marketbased condition and the blackscholes 
model for all others taking into account the terms and conditions upon which the awards were made the amount recognised as an 
expense is adjusted to reﬂect the number of share awards expected to vest
short term employee bene ts
shortterm employee beneﬁt obligations are measured on an undiscounted basis and are recognised in the consolidated statement 
of comprehensive income 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
advertising costs
the group incurs costs from advertising via a number of different media costs associated with the production of adverts are 
recognised as an expense in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income only once the advert is available to the group in 
a format ready for use having been approved for airing or displaying the cost of airing or displaying the advert is taken as an 
expense in the period in which the advert is aired or displayed
finance income
finance income comprises interest receivable which is recognised in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income as it 
accrues 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 consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income 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 in force for the year 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 62 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
2 summary of signi cant accounting policies continued
taxation continued
deferred tax liabilities are recognised at the expected future tax rate of the value of the intangible assets with ﬁnite lives which are 
acquired through business combinations representing the tax effect of the amortisation of these assets in future periods
these liabilities will decrease in line with the amortisation of the related intangible assets with the deferred tax credit recognised in 
the statement of comprehensive income 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
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 retained earnings and reserves where applicable as well as 
unvested share options and awards
in line with internal capital management requirements the group manages its cash balances by where possible depositing them with 
a number of ﬁnancial institutions to reduce credit risk the group had no debt as at 31 december 2012 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 during the prior year the shareholders authorised the 
company to purchase up to 50928800 of its own shares for cancellation or to be held as treasury shares 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
there were no changes to the group’s approach to capital management during the year
standards amendments and interpretations adopted during the period
the group has adopted the following amendments and interpretations which have not had a signiﬁcant impact on the group’s results
 deferred tax recovery of underlying assets amendments to ias 12
standards amendments and interpretations issued but not yet effective
a number of new standards amendments to standards and interpretations have been issued during the year ended 31 december 
2012 but are not yet effective and therefore have not yet been adopted by the group these are not expected to have a material 
impact on the group’s accounts when adopted except where stated
ifrs 10 ‘consolidated ﬁnancial statements 2011’ – on 12 may 2011 the iasb issued ifrs 10 consolidated ﬁnancial statements 
which is a replacement of ias 27 consolidated and separate ﬁnancial statements and sic12 consolidation – special purpose 
entities this is part of a new suite of standards on consolidation and related matters which will replace the existing accounting for 
subsidiaries and joint ventures now joint arrangements and will make limited amendments in relation to associates concurrent with 
the issuance of ifrs 10 the iasb also issued
 ifrs 11 ‘joint ventures 2011’
 ifrs 12 ‘disclosures of involvement with other entities 2011’
 ias 27 ‘separate ﬁnancial statements revised 2011’ has been amended for the issuance of ifrs 10 but retains the current 
guidance for separate ﬁnancial statements and 
 ias 28 ‘investments in associates and joint ventures revised 2011’ has been amended for conforming changes based on the 
issuance of ifrs 10 and ifrs 11 
each of the standards in the ‘package of ﬁve’ has an effective date for periods beginning on or after 1 january 2014 with earlier 
application permitted so long as each of the other standards in the ‘package of ﬁve’ is also early adopted 63 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
2 summary of signi cant accounting policies continued
standards amendments and interpretations issued but not yet effective continued
transition guidance amendments to ifrs 10 ifrs 11 and ifrs 12 – further to the consolidation standards above the iasb has 
issued transitional guidance effective from 1 january 2013 the amendments simplify the transition to these new standards and 
provide additional relief from disclosures
ifrs 9 ‘financial instruments’ 2010 – on 28 october 2010 the iasb published a revised version of ifrs 9 ‘financial instruments’ 
the revised standard retains the requirements for classiﬁcation and measurement of ﬁnancial assets that were published in 
november 2009 but adds guidance on the classiﬁcation and measurement of ﬁnancial liabilities as part of its restructuring of ifrs 9 
the iasb also copied the guidance on derecognition of ﬁnancial instruments and related implementation guidance from ias 39 
‘financial instruments recognition and measurement to ifrs 9’ on 19 november 2011 the iasb issued ‘mandatory effective date 
and transition disclosures which amended the effective date of ifrs 9 to annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2015
ifrs 13 ‘fair value measurement’ 2011 – on 12 may 2011 the iasb issued ifrs 13 ‘fair value measurement’ which establishes a 
single source of guidance for fair value measurement under ifrss ifrs 13 deﬁnes fair value provides guidance on its determination 
and introduces consistent requirements for disclosures on fair value measurements the standard does not include requirements on 
when fair value is required it prescribes how fair value is to be measured if another standard requires it ifrs 13 is effective for 
annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2013 with early adoption permitted and applies prospectively from the beginning of 
the annual period in which the standard is adopted
ias 19 ‘employee beneﬁts 2001 the ‘amendments’’ – on 16 june 2011 the iasb issued amendments to ias 19 ‘employee 
beneﬁts’ 2011 the ‘amendments’ that change the accounting for deﬁned beneﬁt plans and termination beneﬁts the objective of 
this limited scope project was to improve the ﬁnancial reporting of employee beneﬁts the amendments are effective for annual 
periods beginning on or after 1 january 2013 with earlier application permitted
ias 1 ‘presentation of items of other comprehensive income 2011’ – on 16 june 2011 the iasb issued ‘presentation of items of 
other comprehensive income the amendments require the grouping of items of other comprehensive income into items that might 
be reclassiﬁed to proﬁt or loss in subsequent periods and items that will not be classiﬁed to proﬁt and loss in subsequent periods 
the amendments are applicable for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 july 2012 with earlier adoption permitted
ias 32 ‘financial instruments presentation 2011’ – in december 2011 the iasb amended the accounting requirements and 
disclosures related to offsetting of ﬁnancial assets and ﬁnancial liabilities the amendments to ias 32 are intended to clarify existing 
application issues relating to the offsetting rules and therefore reduce the level of diversity in current practice the new disclosures 
are required for annual or interim periods beginning on or after 1 january 2013 and the clarifying amendments to ias 32 are effective 
for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2014 both require retrospective application for comparative periods
on 17 may 2012 the iasb issued ‘annual improvements to ifrss 20092011 cycle incorporating amendments to ﬁve ifrss the 
amendments must be applied retrospectively and are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2014 with earlier 
application permitted of the ﬁve three apply to the group they are
 ias 16 property plant and equipment – spare parts standby equipment and servicing equipment should be classiﬁed as 
property plant and equipment when they meet the deﬁnition of property plant and equipment in ias 16
 ias 32 financial instruments presentation – income tax relating to distributions to holders of an equity instrument and to 
transaction costs of an equity transaction should be accounted for in accordance with ias 12 ‘income taxes’ and
 ias 34 interim ﬁnancial reporting – the total assets and total liabilities for a particular reportable segment would be separately 
disclosed in interim ﬁnancial reporting only when the amounts are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker and 
there has been a material change from the amounts disclosed in the last annual ﬁnancial statements for that reportable segment 
 not yet endorsed in the eu
3 acquisitions
financial services net limited
on 14 october 2010 the group acquired 100 of the share capital of financial services net limited ‘fsn’ for £5m with a further 
£4m of consideration payable dependent upon the achievement of certain cumulative ﬁnancial targets over a 3 year period 
commencing may 2011
during 2011 the goodwill of £22m recognised on the acquisition of fsn was written off in full to the consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income based on the business’ performance to date against the above targets and latest forecasts management 
assessed the fair value of the contingent consideration based on the performance of fsn and reduced the amount accrued at 
31 december 2011 by £22m to £02m 64 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
3 acquisitions continued
financial services net limited continued
in 2012 fsn has continued to trade below its forecast performance management performed an impairment review of the remaining 
intangible assets prior to the year end based on updated forecasts for the business and as a result of this review the remaining net 
book value of the intangible assets of £44m was written off to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income in addition 
management also reviewed the amount of contingent consideration which they expected to become payable and as a result 
released a credit of £02m to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income
local daily deals limited
on 31 august 2011 the group acquired 51 of local daily deals limited ‘ldd’ for an initial consideration of £1m rising to a 
total consideration of up to £11m payable on the third anniversary of the acquisition depending on the achievement of certain 
ﬁnancial targets
the group has accounted for the acquisition using the anticipated acquisition method whereby 100 of ldd’s results since 
acquisition have been consolidated into the results of the group as a result of the call and put options in place over the non
controlling interest
the deferred consideration payable was dependent upon continued employment and therefore under ifrs was accounted for as 
contingent remuneration with the forecast amount payable being accrued over the earnout period and charged to the consolidated 
statement of comprehensive income the estimated fair value of the contingent amount payable was assessed as being £10m as 
at 31 december 2011 £01m had been charged to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income
during the period management reviewed the amount of contingent remuneration that they expected to become payable based on 
the performance of the business to date and its latest forecasts as a result a £01m credit has been released to the consolidated 
statement of comprehensive income
since the performance of ldd has been behind management’s expectations the goodwill balance of £06m was also reviewed for 
impairment during the period and as a result has been written off in full to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income
moneysavingexpertcom mse
on 21 september 2012 the group acquired certain trade and assets from martin lewis and his company moneysavingexpertcom 
for an initial consideration of £655m the initial consideration of £655m was settled by a cash payment of £350m and £305m of 
equity represented by 221 million ordinary shares in the company in addition a contingent amount of up to £270m payable in part 
against the achievement of certain nonﬁnancial metrics and in part at the discretion of the company board is dependent on the 
continued employment of martin lewis for three years following the acquisition
£000
consideration
initial consideration paid in cash 35000
initial consideration paid in equity shares in company 30531
total consideration 65531
the moneysavingexpertcom website offers free online content for consumers in areas such as credit cards and loans shopping 
deals and vouchers utilities phones banking and saving travel and motoring insurance mortgages and homes and income and 
family and includes a range of online tools researched articles in respect of speciﬁc products personal ﬁnance guides weekly 
newsletter emails and online forums martin lewis and the moneysavingexpertcom website also provide information on and promote 
topical consumer issues such as ﬁnancial education in schools and reclaiming payment protection insurance the business is being run 
separately from the rest of the group according to an editorial code to ensure that moneysavingexpertcom retains its independence 65 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
3 acquisitions continued
effect of acquisition
the acquisition had the following effect on the group’s assets and liabilities
recognised
values on
acquisition
£000
mse’s net assets at the acquisition date
other current assets 16
intangible assets see note 12 12895
net identiﬁable assets and liabilities 12911
goodwill on acquisition 52620
total consideration 65531
a detailed description of the different intangible assets which were identiﬁed within the acquired business and the methods used to 
value them are provided within note 12
the acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom by the group is expected to provide a number of beneﬁts to both the group and the 
acquired business allowing the enlarged group to reach a wider audience and improve the visibility and accessibility of 
moneysavingexpertcom’s offering the goodwill identiﬁed upon the acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom represents the beneﬁts 
referred to above as well as the skills and knowledge within the acquired business’ workforce 
the results of moneysavingexpertcom have been included in the consolidated financial statements of the group with effect from 
21 september 2012 and in the three months and 9 days to 31 december 2012 the business contributed revenue prior to 
consolidation adjustments of £39m and a net proﬁt of £28m to the consolidated proﬁt for the year if the acquisition had occurred 
on 1 january 2012 group revenue would have been an estimated £2091m and proﬁt before tax would have been an estimated 
£320m in determining these amounts management has assumed that the fair value adjustments that arose on the date of 
acquisition would have been the same if the acquisition had occurred on the ﬁrst day of the accounting period
as noted above additional amounts of up to £270m may become payable on the third anniversary of the completion date in part 
upon the achievement of a number of nonﬁnancial performance measures speciﬁed in the purchase agreement and in part at the 
discretion of the company board subject to the continued employment of martin lewis these amounts have been accounted for 
separate to the business combination as remuneration as they are linked to the continued employment of martin lewis the fair value 
of the amount that management expects to become payable will be charged to the consolidated statement of comprehensive 
income over the earnout period as an employment expense the group has estimated the amount of this element which will become 
payable by attributing different probabilities to a range of possible outcomes derived from the most recent nonﬁnancial forecasts of 
the business’ performance at the balance sheet date the fair value of the contingent amount was £250m and £23m has been 
charged to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income during the period included within administrative expenses and 
£02m has been recognised as an expense within net ﬁnance costs being the unwinding of the discount rate applied
the group incurred acquisitionrelated costs of £34m 2011 £11m during the period relating to legal and advisory fees which have 
been included in administrative expenses the impact on both basic and diluted earnings per share is a decrease of 06p per share
the group was previously a signiﬁcant customer of moneysavingexpertcom management considered the settlement of the 
preexisting relationship on acquisition and since the preacquisition trade was on an arms length commercial basis no settlement 
adjustments arose 66 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
4 segmental information
business segments
in applying ifrs 8 – operating segments the group has disclosed ﬁve reportable segments being money insurance travel 
home and moneysavingexpertcom money insurance and home operate under the brand name moneysupermarketcom and 
travel under the brand name travelsupermarketcom however all four segments are reported separately moneysavingexpertcom 
will be disclosed as a separate operating segment with revenue generated by fsn and ldd reported within ‘other’ this disclosure 
correlates with the information which is presented to the group’s chief operating decision maker the company board which 
reviews revenue by segment the group’s costs ﬁnance income tax charges and net assets are only reviewed by the 
chief operating decision maker at a consolidated level with the exception of moneysavingexpertcom and therefore have not been 
allocated between all segments in the analysis below all of the group revenue of £2048m 2011 £1810m reported in 2012 was 
generated in the uk 2011 £1810m
money
£000
insurance
£000
travel
£000
home
£000
moneysaving 
expert
£000
reportable
segments
total
£000
other
£000
inter
segmental 
revenue
£000
total
£000
year ended 31 december 2012
revenue
segment revenue 57389 120368 13074 11403 3931 206165 735 2148 204752
results
operating expenses 1147 173227
proﬁt from operating activities 2784 31525
net ﬁnance costs 143
share of proﬁt of associates using 
the equity accounting method 
net of tax 158
proﬁt before tax 31540
income tax charge 6708
proﬁt for the year 24832
at 31 december 2012
assets and liabilities
intangible assets excluding goodwill 89988
goodwill 107585
other unallocated assets 53003
total assets 250576
deferred tax liability 13432
other unallocated liabilities 37409
total liabilities 50841
other segment information
capital expenditure
property plant and equipment 3170
intangible assets 69032
total capital expenditure 72202
depreciation 3581
amortisation 26148
impairment of goodwill and other 
intangible assets 5945 67 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
4 segmental information continued
money
£000
insurance
£000
travel
£000
home
£000
moneysaving 
expert
£000
reportable
segments
total
£000
other
£000
inter
segmental 
revenue
£000
total
£000
year ended 31 december 2011
revenue
segment revenue 53435 104394 13319 9181 – 180329 719 – 181048
results
operating expenses 157005
proﬁt from operating activities 24043
net ﬁnance income 239
proﬁt before tax 24282
income tax charge 7494
proﬁt for the year 16788
at 31 december 2011
assets and liabilities
intangible assets excluding goodwill 105054
goodwill 55580
other unallocated assets 64827
total assets 225461
deferred tax liability 23251
other unallocated liabilities 35648
total liabilities 58899
other segment information
capital expenditure
property plant and equipment 4054
intangible assets 4515
total capital expenditure 8569
depreciation 3819
amortisation 24202
impairment of goodwill 2199
5 results from operating activities
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
proﬁt on ordinary activities before taxation is stated after chargingcrediting
depreciation 3581 3819
amortisation of intangible assets 26148 24202
impairment of goodwill 5945 2199
net vat recovery 10622 –
auditors’ remuneration
 audit of these financial statements 90 85
 audit of subsidiaries’ financial statements 80 68
 review of interim financial statements 28 27
 taxation compliance services 33 33
 taxation advisory services 160 35
 services relating to corporate ﬁnance 485 88
 other services 113 410
the companies disclosure of auditor remuneration and liability limitation agreements amendment regulations 2011 is 
mandatory for periods starting on or after 1 october 2011 the comparatives in respect of the disclosures of auditor remuneration 
have been restated accordingly 68 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
6 staff numbers and cost
the average number of persons employed by the group including directors during the year analysed by category was as follows
number of
employees
31 december
2012
number of
employees
31 december
2011
it operations 142 146
administration 333 284
475 430
the aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
wages and salaries 23160 20885
compulsory social security contributions 2579 2426
contributions to deﬁned contribution plans 552 507
equitysettled sharebased payment transactions 1979 2200
social security contributions related to share awards and options 1861 865
30131 26883
in addition to the above £2325000 2011 £nil has been charged to the statement of comprehensive income during the period in 
relation to the contingent remuneration expected to become payable in relation to the acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom and 
£96000 has been credited to the statement of comprehensive income 2011 £96000 charge in relation to the contingent 
remuneration expected to become payable in relation to the acquisition of local daily deals limited see note 3
7 net nance costs
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
finance income
interest received on bank deposits 197 239
finance expense
interest payable on loan facility 146 –
unwind of discount on contingent remuneration 194 –
340 –
net ﬁnance costsincome 143 239
8 income tax
income tax charged in the statement of comprehensive income
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
current tax
current tax on income for the year 15458 13938
adjustment in relation to prior period 80 2040
15538 15978
deferred tax
origination and reversal of temporary differences 7282 6414
deferred tax on unapproved equitysettled share awards – 391
adjustments due to change in corporation tax rate 1505 1999
adjustment in relation to prior period 43 320
8830 8484
tax on proﬁt on ordinary activities 6708 7494 69 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
8 income tax continued
reconciliation of the effective tax rate
the tax charge for the year is lower 2011 higher than the effective standard rate of corporation tax in the uk in 2012 of 245  
2011 265 the differences are explained below
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
proﬁt for the year 31540 24282
standard rate of tax at 245 2011 265 7727 6435
effects of
expenses not deductible for tax purposes 205 405
deferred tax not recognised 229 65
movement on deferred tax assets related to sharebased payments 47 192
impact on deferred tax of reduction in corporation tax rate to 23 2011 25 1537 1963
adjustment in relation to prior period 37 2360
tax on proﬁt on ordinary activities 6708 7494
from 1 april 2012 the corporation tax rate changed from 26 to 24 resulting in a blended corporation tax rate for the year of 
245 from 1 april 2013 the corporation tax rate will further reduce to 23 furthermore on 5 december 2012 it was announced 
that the uk corporation tax rate will reduce to 21 by 2014
9 earnings per share
basic earnings per share
basic earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the proﬁt or loss for the year attributable to ordinary equity holders of 
the company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year
diluted earnings per share
diluted earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the proﬁt or loss for the year attributable to ordinary equity holders of 
the company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year 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 earnings per share has been calculated on the following basis
2012 2011
proﬁt after taxation attributable to ordinary equity holders £000 24832 16788
basic weighted average ordinary shares in issue millions 5194 5093
dilutive effect of sharebased instruments millions 84 119
diluted weighted average ordinary shares in issue millions 5278 5212
basic earnings per ordinary share p 48 33
diluted earnings per ordinary share p 47 32 70 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
10 dividends
2012
£000
2011
£000
declared and paid during the year
equity dividends on ordinary shares
final dividend for 2010 253p per share 12884
interim dividend for 2011 15p per share 7654
special dividend for 2011 393p per share 20000
final dividend for 2011 303p per share 15431 –
interim dividend for 2012 18p per share 9273 –
proposed for approval not recognised as a liability at 31 december
equity dividends on ordinary shares
final dividend for 2012 394p per share 21169 –
11 property plant and equipment
land and
buildings
£000
under
construction
£000
plant and
equipment
£000
ofﬁce
equipment
£000
fixtures
and ﬁttings
£000
total
£000
cost
at 1 january 2011 6335 96 16222 314 684 23651
arising upon acquisition of local daily deals limited – – 45 – – 45
additions – 3 3459 339 253 4054
transfers – 96 96 – – –
disposals – – 41 33 31 105
foreign exchange adjustments – – 5 2 1 8
at 31 december 2011 6335 3 19776 618 905 27637
additions – 65 3047 37 21 3170
disposals – – – 17 – 17
foreign exchange adjustments – –5229
at 31 december 2012 6335 68 22828 640 928 30799
depreciation
at 1 january 2011 399 – 12125 197 229 12950
depreciation for the year 123 – 3443 85 168 3819
disposals – – 29 26 22 77
foreign exchange adjustments – – 5 1 1 7
at 31 december 2011 522 – 15534 255 374 16685
depreciation for the year 123 – 3204 92 162 3581
disposals – – – 17 – 17
foreign exchange adjustments – – 2 1 1 4
at 31 december 2012 645 – 18736 329 535 20245
carrying amounts
at 31 december 2010 5936 96 4097 117 455 10701
at 31 december 2011 5813 3 4242 363 531 10952
at 31 december 2012 5690 68 4092 311 393 10554 71 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
12 intangible assets
market
related
£000
customer
relationship
£000
customer
list
£000
technology
related
£000
goodwill
£000
total
£000
cost
at 1 january 2011 136943 69291 1162 5900 127164 340460
additions – – – 3900 615 4515
revaluation 16 3 2 – – 21
at 31 december 2011 136927 69288 1160 9800 127779 344954
additions internally developed – – – 3517 – 3517
additions through business combination 11732 – 1163 – 52620 65515
at 31 december 2012 148659 69288 2323 13317 180399 413986
amortisation
at 1 january 2011 46717 34556 746 5900 70000 157919
charged during the year 13694 9899 150 459 – 24202
impairment – – – – 2199 2199
at 31 december 2011 60411 44455 896 6359 72199 184320
charged during the year 14074 9899 258 1917 – 26148
impairment 3755 538 116 921 615 5945
at 31 december 2012 78240 54892 1270 9197 72814 216413
carrying amounts
at 31 december 2010 90226 34735 416 – 57164 182541
at 31 december 2011 76516 24833 264 3441 55580 160634
at 31 december 2012 70419 14396 1053 4120 107585 197573
on an annual basis or where an indication exists the group is required to assess its goodwill and intangible assets for impairment
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 following the impairment in 2008 the market capitalisation of the group approximated to the total carrying 
value of the goodwill intangible and other noncurrent assets of the group at 31 december 2012 the market capitalisation exceeded 
the carrying value of the goodwill intangible and other noncurrent assets and net current assets by more than 100 2011 more 
than 100
on adoption of ifrs 8 the group was required to allocate goodwill between its cash generating units ‘cgu’ that represent the 
lowest level within the group at which goodwill is monitored for internal management purposes but are not larger than an 
operating segment as deﬁned by ifrs 8 these cgus are the ﬁve operating segments insurance money travel home services and 
moneysavingexpertcom in addition the recently acquired businesses financial services net limited fsn and local daily deals 
limited ldd are separate cgus for the purposes of monitoring goodwill the group has performed impairment testing at a cgu 
level for the original four segments the goodwill was allocated on 1 january 2009 based on estimates of the relative values of 
the operating segments at that date with £307m allocated to insurance £155m to money £66m to travel and £22m to home 
services the balances at 31 december 2012 are in line with those at 1 january 2009 goodwill impairment for fsn ldd and 
mse has been considered separately from the four operating segments outlined above and the group
 mpairment re iew by ertical and group
for the current year the recoverable amount of the assets was taken to be their value in use and was calculated by reference to the 
forecast cash ﬂows
the present value of the future cash ﬂows has been calculated with the following key assumptions
 cash ﬂows for year 1 for each cgu represent management’s best estimate of future cash ﬂows as at 31 december 2012 and are 
based upon the group’s approved budget for 2013 incorporating where possible an allocation of cost of sales advertising and 
overheads costs the main assumptions underlying the 2013 budget relate to visitor numbers source of visitors revenue per 
transactionvisitor and marketing spend which incorporate past experience the forecast assumes continued improvement during 
the course of 2013 driven by new media campaigns utilisation of the group’s data asset and investments made during 2012 in the 
core technology for the group’s key channels all segments have been assumed to have similar rates of growth 72 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
12 intangible assets continued
 cash ﬂows for the ﬁrst 3 years assume an average 10 per annum increase in revenue with all costs expected to grow at 10 
per annum cash ﬂows after 3 years assume no growth
 cash ﬂows into perpetuity have been incorporated into the calculations
 a pretax discount rate of 135 2011 135 has been used in the forecast for the travel insurance money and home services 
segments
when there are clear indications that the economy has emerged from recession a different set of assumptions may be more 
appropriate
the analysis performed calculates that the recoverable amount of the assets allocated to the insurance money travel and home 
services segments exceeds their carrying value by in excess of 100 and as such no impairment was identiﬁed no reasonably 
possible change to a key assumption would result in an impairment
as explained in note 4 whilst the group is able to allocate revenue between the insurance money travel and home services 
operating segments its cost base is reviewed by the group’s chief operating decision maker at a group rather than segmental 
level and a number of the signiﬁcant costs which the group incurs cannot be allocated either directly or on a reasonable and 
consistent basis to the cgus that are each operating segment therefore the cash ﬂows estimated for these segments include all of 
the group’s forecast revenues and an allocation of the group’s forecast costs
the group has therefore also performed a further impairment test for the group as a whole in a manner consistent with previous 
years in these calculations the group is treated as one group of cgus and the test compared the carrying amount including 
goodwill and other corporate assets to the recoverable amount
the recoverable amount has been estimated based on the present value of its future cash ﬂows which has been calculated with a 
set of assumptions consistent with those set out above in relation to the individual operating segment calculations
the analysis performed calculates that the recoverable amount of the group’s assets exceeds their carrying value by £469m 
2011 £264m and as such no impairment was identiﬁed
with regard to the group level impairment testing the level of the increase in the discount rate with all the other assumptions held 
constant required to give a value in use for the group’s assets equal to their carrying value would be in excess of what can reasonably 
be expected to happen 2011 outside of reasonable range similarly a decrease in the annual cash ﬂows of £590m 2011 £350m with 
all other assumptions held constant would also give a value in use for the group’s assets equal to their carrying value
at an asset category 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
acquisition of inancial ser ices et limited s
the fair value of the intangible assets recognised upon the acquisition of fsn was calculated as set out below
 market related
 within fsn the main market related intangible assets are the domain names which fsn owns these assets were valued using 
an incomebased approach namely the royalty savings method which estimates the royalty which the group would have to pay 
a third party to use the domain names if it did not own them typically as a percentage of the revenue earned from the domain 
names during their useful economic life of 10 years the group estimated revenue based on the most recent 3 year forecasts and 
for later periods assumed inﬂationary increases of 5 a royalty rate of 15 was applied based on available industry data a 
discount rate of 158 was used to calculate the present value of the future royalty savings
 customer relationships
 this asset represented the value present within the existing relationships which fsn had with product providers and brokers the 
valuation was based on the cash ﬂows which were expected to result from these relationships during the 7 year useful economic 
life of the asset adjusted for estimated future attrition of the providers and relationships following the date of acquisition again 
the group based the estimate on the most recent 3 year forecasts and for later periods assumed inﬂationary increases of 5 
with an assumed attrition rate of the provider relationships of 50 per annum based on management’s expectations a discount 
rate of 158 was used to calculate the present value of the future beneﬁt resulting from the relationships 73 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
12 intangible assets continued
 customer lists
 this asset represented the value of the customer data held by fsn at the date of acquisition and was valued based on the cost 
of recreating such a database in the open market using inhouse estimates of the cost of each data element
the goodwill balance recognised upon the acquisition of fsn represented the anticipated incremental value which the group 
expected to generate by applying the existing skills and expertise within the group’s workforce to the acquired business and assets
during 2011 the goodwill of £22m recognised on the acquisition of fsn was written off in full to the consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income based on the business’ performance against the targets set and latest forecasts management also 
assessed the fair value of the contingent consideration and reduced the amount accrued at 31 december 2011 by £22m to £02m
in 2012 fsn has continued to trade below management expectations as a result of this management reviewed the remaining 
intangible assets for impairment
the recoverable amount of the assets was taken to be their value in use and was calculated by reference to fsn’s forecast cash 
ﬂows for the purposes of ias 36 fsn is taken to be one cgu
the present value of the forecast cash ﬂows was calculated with the following key assumptions
 cash ﬂows for year 1 represent management’s best estimate of future cash ﬂows as at 31 december 2012 and are based upon 
the group’s approved budget for 2013 the main assumptions underlying the budget relate to visitor numbers the amount of 
revenue generated per visitor and the staff resource required to run the business the forecast assumes a level of performance 
consistent with that in 2012
 cash ﬂows into perpetuity assume no growth in the number of visitors and no increase in the revenue generated per visitor with 
all costs expected to remain ﬂat
 cash ﬂows into perpetuity have been built into the model
 a pretax discount rate of 165 2011 165 has been used in the forecast
the analysis performed calculates the value in use of fsn being lower than the carrying value of the business’ identiﬁed intangible 
assets therefore an impairment charge of £44m has been recognised in the year within administrative expenses as well as a credit 
of £02m in relation to the release of the accrued contingent consideration as a result there is no difference between the carrying 
value and the recoverable amount of the business’ intangible assets as at the balance sheet date
acquisition of local daily deals limited ldd
the group recognises its intangible assets in the following asset classes no intangible assets were recognised upon the acquisition 
of ldd for the following reasons
 market related
 at acquisition the main market related intangible asset was the domain name which ldd owned assets such as this are typically 
valued using an incomebased approach based on estimated revenue in the company’s most recent forecasts and the savings 
which the group or an equivalent third party would expect to make by now owning the domain name prior to acquisition the 
company’s website attracted low volumes of visitors and since acquisition the website has been relocated within the group’s main 
website in light of this the group did not assign any value to the domain name or any other market related intangible assets
 customer relationships
 this asset class represents the value within the existing relationships which ldd has with its business partners given the nature 
of ldd’s business and the short lifetime of the relationships the group did not identify any value within this asset
 customer lists
 this asset class represents the value of the customer data held by ldd at the date of acquisition the volume of customer data 
held by the business has been assessed by management as immaterial as such no value was identiﬁed within this asset
 technology
 this asset class relates to technical innovations and advances such as databases software and trade secrets whilst the 
business did own the website on which its business operates the cost of replicating such a website has been estimated by 
management as immaterial to the group’s operations 74 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
12 intangible assets continued
the goodwill balance recognised upon the acquisition of ldd represented the anticipated incremental value which the group 
expected to generate by applying its existing customer database and expertise to the ldd business the group does not expect any 
of the goodwill to be deductible for tax purposes
in 2012 ldd has traded below its forecast performance and as a result management reviewed the goodwill balance for impairment 
during the period
the recoverable amount of the assets was taken to be their value in use and was calculated by reference to ldd’s forecast cash 
ﬂows for the purposes of ias 36 ldd is taken to be one cgu
the present value of the forecast cash ﬂows was calculated with the following key assumptions
 cash ﬂows for year 1 represent management’s best estimate of future cash ﬂows as at 31 december 2012 and are based upon 
the group’s approved budget for 2013 the main assumptions underlying the budget relate to visitor numbers the amount of 
revenue generated per visitor and the staff resource required to run the business the forecast assumes a performance 
consistent with 2012
 cash ﬂows into perpetuity assume no growth in the revenue generated with all costs expected to remain ﬂat
 cash ﬂows into perpetuity have been built into the model
 a pretax discount rate of 165 has been used in the forecast
the analysis performed calculates the value in use of ldd being lower than the carrying value of goodwill created on the acquisition 
of ldd therefore an impairment charge of £06m has been recognised in the year in administrative expenses as a result there is no 
difference between the carrying value and the recoverable amount of the goodwill as at the balance sheet date
acquisition of certain trade and assets of martin lewis and moneysa inge pertcom
the fair value of the intangible assets recognised upon the acquisition of trade and certain assets from martin lewis and 
moneysavingexpertcom ‘mse’ were calculated as set out below
 market related
 within mse the main market related intangible assets are the mse tradename mse domain name and martin lewis’ image and 
reputation these assets were valued using an incomebased approach namely the royalty savings method where it is assumed 
that a company without similar assets would license the right to use these assets and pay a royalty related to turnover achieved 
over their useful economic life of 10 years a royalty rate of 20 has been applied for the ﬁrst three years after acquisition which 
will include the use of martin lewis’ name and image and a 10 royalty rate has been used for the following seven years when 
martin lewis’s name and image will not be included 
 customer lists
 this asset represents the value of the customer data held by mse at the date of acquisition and its valuation has been performed 
with reference to the cost of buying an equivalent book of customer data on the open market this was done through analysis of 
recent sales of comparable assets
 noncompete agreement
 to value the noncompete agreement management considered what percentage of the business could be lost if martin lewis 
was to leave the acquired business and subsequently compete against the group the noncompete agreement is valid for a 
period of four years following acquisition however as the contingent remuneration which may become payable to martin lewis is 
dependent upon his continued employment by the business for three years following the acquisition the noncompete agreement 
has been valued for the twelve months following the three year earnout period 75 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
12 intangible assets continued
 tax amortisation bene t 
 included in the market related intangible and noncompete agreement is an additional increment of value the tax amortisation 
beneﬁt
the goodwill balance recognised upon the acquisition represents the anticipated incremental value which the group expects to 
generate by applying the existing skills and expertise within the group’s workforce to the acquired business and assets as well as 
the skills and expertise of the acquired workforce and martin lewis
the recoverable amount has been estimated based on the present value of its future cashﬂows using the following key assumptions
 cash ﬂows for year 1 represent management’s best estimate of future cash ﬂows as at 31 december 2012 and are based upon 
the group’s approved budget for 2013 the main assumptions underlying the budget relate to visitor numbers the amount of 
revenue generated per visitor and the staff resource required to run the business the forecast assumes an improvement over 
2013 driven by investments in technology and search engine optimisation
 cash ﬂows for the ﬁrst three years assume an average 10 per annum increase in the revenue generated whilst payroll costs 
have been forecast to increase by 5 per annum with all other costs expected to grow at 5 per annum cash ﬂows after three 
years assume no growth
 cash ﬂows into perpetuity have been built into the model
 a pretax discount rate of 162 has been used in the forecast
the analysis performed calculates that the recoverable amount of the assets exceed their carrying value by in excess of 21 and as 
such no impairment was identiﬁed the discount rate would need to increase to 19 with all other assumptions held constant to give a 
value in use of mse’s assets equal to the carrying value similarly a decrease in the annual cash ﬂows of £25m with all other 
assumptions held constant would also give a value in use equal to the carrying value
13 trade and other receivables
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
trade receivables 20768 15974
all receivables fall due within one year
as a result of click based revenue being recognised in the period that the lead is generated a revenue accrual for approximately one 
month’s revenue is recognised at the year end date
at 31 december 2012 trade receivables are shown net of a provision for doubtful debts of £72000 2011 £53000 which 
represents a judgement made by management of which receivable balances are unlikely to be recovered taking into consideration 
the ageing of the debt evidence of poor payment history or ﬁnancial position of a particular debtor
movements in the provision for doubtful debts were as follows
2012
£000
2011
£000
at 1 january 53 85
charge for the year 23 62
amounts written off 4 94
at 31 december 72 53
as at 31 december the analysis of trade receivables that were past due but not impaired is as follows
total
£000
neither past
due nor
impaired
£000
past due not impaired
030 days
£000
3060 days
£000
6090 days
£000
90120 days
£000
120 days
£000
at 31 december 2011 15974 15008 957 61 4 8 48
at 31 december 2012 20768 18323 1604 796 61 28 44
the group’s standard payment terms are 15 days 76 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
14 trade and other payables
noncurrent
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
contingent remuneration in relation to the acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 2521 –
2521 –
current
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
trade payables 17208 16210
nontrade payables and accrued expenses 10050 12165
deferred income 33 42
contingent consideration in relation to the acquisition of financial services net limited – 385
contingent remuneration in relation to the acquisition of local daily deals limited – 96
27291 28898
as a result of click based revenue being recognised in the period that the lead is generated an accrual for the cost of sales relating 
to the revenue accrued at the year end date see note 13 is included within trade payables
as at 31 december the analysis of ﬁnancial liabilities within trade payables nontrade payables and accrued expenses is as follows
total
£000
current
£000
030 days
£000
3060 days
£000
6090 days
£000
90120 days
£000
 120 days
£000
at 31 december 2011 28375 19166 5225 1476 180 99 2229
at 31 december 2012 27258 21881 2933 208 62 22 2276
as at 31 december 2012 the group did not hold any other ﬁnancial liabilities requiring disclosure under ias 32
15 deferred tax liabilities
deferred tax assets and liabilities are attributable to the following
2012
£000
2011
£000
intangible assets recognised under ifrs 16896 25403
share schemes 2262 1454
goodwill related to moneysavingexpertcom 203 –
accelerated capital allowances 999 698
deferred tax liability at 31 december 13432 23251
the following table illustrates the movement in the deferred tax liability during the year
2012
£000
2011
£000
at 1 january 23251 32212
temporary differences 6173 6421
revaluation of ltip equitysettled share awards 682 827
reversal of deferred tax liability recognised on the acquisition of financial services net limited 1289 –
issue of ltip equitysettled share awards 127 34
reduction in corporation tax rate to 23 2011 25 1505 1999
adjustment in relation to prior period 43 320
at 31 december 13432 23251
deferred tax liabilities arise from the creation of the intangible assets upon the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial 
group limited by the company and the acquisition of financial services net limited by moneysupermarketcom financial group 
limited deferred tax assets arise on share option schemes based on the expected tax deduction on vesting and the acquisition of 
moneysavingexpertcom deferred tax assets and liabilities have been calculated at the tax rate enacted at the balance sheet date 
of 23 77 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
16 capital
the following rights attached to the shares in issue during the year
ordinary shares
the holders of ordinary shares were entitled to returns of capital receive a dividend and vote
issued and fully paid
number of shares
ordinary
shares
at 1 january 2011 and 1 january 2012 509288007
issued on exercising of ltip share awards 5872192
issued on exercising of saye options 4296
issued on acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 22123894
at 31 december 2012 537288389
£
ordinary
shares
at 1 january 2011 and 1 january 2012 101857
issued on exercising of ltip share awards 1174
issued on exercising of saye options 1
issued on acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 4425
at 31 december 2012 107457
the group has a long term incentive plan under which conditional nil cost awards of ordinary shares in the company have been 
made to certain directors and employees of the group see note 18
17 financial instruments
interest rate risk
the group invests its cash in a range of cash deposit accounts with uk 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 £187000 based 
on group cash cash equivalents and ﬁnancial instruments at 31 december 2012 at the balance sheet date £18314000 was 
invested with lloyds banking group this being the most invested with any one bank
effective interest rates
in respect of interestearning ﬁnancial assets the following table indicates their effective interest rates at the year end date
31 december 2012 31 december 2011
effective
interest rate £000
effective
interest rate £000
cash and cash equivalents 066 18680 068 35005
credit risk
credit risk refers to the risk that a counterparty will default on its contractual obligations resulting in a ﬁnancial loss to the group 
the group has adopted a policy of only dealing with credit worthy counterparties as a means of mitigating risk of ﬁnancial loss 
from default the group’s exposure is continuously monitored by the credit control team and ﬁnance management
by value over 90 2011 90 of the group’s revenue comes from blue chip companies at the balance sheet date the ﬁve 
largest trade receivables by provider accounted for 14 2011 22 of the total trade receivables balance of £20768000 
2011 £15974000 and the largest individual balance was £855442 2011 £1080637 78 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
17 financial instruments continued
fair values
the group’s ﬁnancial assets and liabilities are principally shortterm in nature and therefore their fair value is not materially different 
from their carrying value the valuation method for the group’s ﬁnancial assets and liabilities can be deﬁned as follows
level 1 quoted prices unadjusted in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
level 2  inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability either directly ie as 
prices or indirectly ie derived from prices
level 3 inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable market data unobservable inputs
the ﬁnancial liabilities arising on acquisitions held at 31 december 2012 are valued using a level 3 valuation method being their fair 
value with any change in fair value taken to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income all other ﬁnancial assets and 
liabilities are valued at amortised cost there have been no transfers between levels in the year
the directors consider that the carrying amounts of ﬁnancial assets and ﬁnancial liabilities recorded at amortised cost in the ﬁnancial 
statements approximate their fair values
liquidity risk management
the group manages liquidity risk by maintaining adequate reserves and banking facilities by continuously monitoring forecast and 
actual cash ﬂows details of additional undrawn facilities that the group has at its disposal to further reduce liquidity risks are set 
out below
year ended 
31 december 
2012
£000
year ended
31 december 
2011
£000
unsecured bank loan facilities with a maturity date of 31 may 2015
 amount used – –
 amount unused 20000 –
during the year £13 million was drawn down against the bank loan facility and was subsequently repaid before the year end
18 sharebased payments
share ncenti e plan scheme s p
upon listing the company granted £3000 of ordinary shares at the price of £170 per ordinary share to each eligible employee free 
of charge if an employee left within one year of listing all of these ordinary shares were forfeit between one and two years of listing 
50 were forfeit between two and three years of listing 20 were forfeit and after three years of listing none were forfeit 948184 
shares were issued under the share incentive plan scheme in 2007 on 31 july 2010 eligible employees became entitled to receive 
their allocation of free shares 93886 2011 54365 shares have been withdrawn from the trust by employees during the period and 
a further 388199 remain held in trust 2011 482085
long erm ncenti e plan scheme l p
on 8 april 2009 conditional awards were made over 8256530 ordinary shares under the moneysupermarketcom group plc long 
term incentive plan scheme to senior employees ‘2009 ltips’ under this scheme up to 70 of the shares were to vest at the end 
of a three year period dependent upon the achievement of an adjusted ebitda ﬁgure for each of the three ﬁnancial years from 2009 
to 2011 and up to 30 of the shares were to vest at the end of a three year period dependent upon the total shareholder return 
‘tsr’ of the company relative to a comparator group of deﬁned companies these awards were therefore subject to marketbased 
performance conditions on 11 june 2012 9438 of the awards vested following partial achievement of the performance criteria
on 7 april 2010 conditional awards were made over 6473309
1
 ordinary shares under the moneysupermarketcom group plc 
long term incentive plan scheme to senior employees ‘2010 ltips’ under this scheme up to 70 of the shares vest at the end of 
a three year period dependent upon the absolute total shareholder return of the company against a target set at the start of the 
period and up to 30 of the shares were to vest at the end of a three year period dependent upon the total shareholder return of the 
company relative to a comparator group of deﬁned companies 79 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
18 sharebased payments continued
long erm ncenti e plan scheme l p continued
during the prior year conditional awards were made over 3945803
1
 ordinary shares under the moneysupermarketcom group plc 
long term incentive plan scheme to senior employees ‘2011 ltips’ under this scheme up to 50 of the shares were to vest at the 
end of a three year period dependent upon the absolute total shareholder return of the company against a target set at the start of the 
period and up to 50 of the shares vest at the end of a three year period dependent upon the total shareholder return of the company 
relative to a comparator group of deﬁned companies these awards are therefore subject to marketbased performance conditions
during the year conditional awards were made over 3148724
1
 ordinary shares under the moneysupermarketcom group plc long 
term incentive plan scheme to senior employees ‘2012 ltips’ under this scheme up to 70 of the award vests at the end of a 
three year period dependent upon the achievement of a speciﬁed average growth rate in adjusted ebitda from 31 december 2011 
to 31 december 2014 and up to 30 of the award vests at the end of a three year period dependent upon the total shareholder 
return ‘tsr’ of the company relative to a comparator group of deﬁned companies 
1  the ﬁgures for the awards made in 2010 2011 and 2012 are the maximum available if the performance targets are met in full representing 150 of the actual awards made
sharesa e scheme
during 2011 the group established an hmrcapproved savings scheme available to all employees the scheme allows employees 
to save an amount of their net pay into a savings account each month and at the end of the three year period choose to either 
receive back their savings or use them to buy ordinary shares in the company at a discounted exercise price the exercise price for 
the 2011 sharesave scheme was ﬁxed at 896p per share
during 2012 the group established a further hmrcapproved scheme available to all employees on the same basis as the scheme 
established in 2011 the exercise price for the 2012 sharesave scheme was ﬁxed at 1076p per share
mo ements in the year
the following table illustrates the number and weighted average exercise price ‘waep’ of and movements in share options during 
the year the number of options in the table represents the maximum number which may vest
number waep
outstanding at 1 january 2011 10978314 £000
ltip awards made during the year 2630535 £000
ltip awards forfeit during the year 1038400 £000
ltip awards lapsed during the year 649601 £000
outstanding at 31 december 2011 11920848 £000
ltip awards made during the year 2099149 £000
ltip awards vested and exercised during the year 5872192 £000
ltip awards forfeit during the year 741887 £000
ltip awards lapsed during the year 339328 £000
outstanding at 31 december 2012 7066590 £000
the following table lists the inputs to the blackscholes models and monte carlo simulations used for the schemes for the year 
ended 31 december 2012
2012
sharesave
2011
sharesave
2012
ltip
2011
ltip
2010
ltip
fair value at grant date £ 039 037 132 083 049
share price £ 138 110 131 090 075
exercise price £ 108 090 00 000 000
expected volatility  330 500 336 500 532
expected life of optionaward years 30 30 30 30 30
weighted average remaining contractual life years 27 17 25 13 03
expected dividend yield  35 43 00 00 00
riskfree interest rate  264 19 264 19 20
expected volatility has been estimated by considering historic average share price volatility for the company or similar companies 
staff attrition has been assessed based on historic retention rates 80 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the consolidated  
financial statements continued
18 sharebased payments continued
the share option charge in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income can be attributed to the following types of share 
option and share award
2012
£000
2011
£000
long term incentive plan scheme 1906 2185
sharesave scheme 73 15
1979 2200
19 operating lease commitments
the future minimum lease commitments under noncancellable operating leases in respect of land and buildings are as follows
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
operating lease commitment payments
within one year 738 135
between two and ﬁve years 2471 70
over ﬁve years 2972 –
6181 205
20 pensions and other postemployment bene t 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 consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income represent the contributions payable to the scheme in respect of the accounting period in the year 
ended 31 december 2012 £552244 of contributions were charged to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income 
2011 £506890 as at 31 december 2012 £93989 2011 £62338 of contributions were outstanding on the balance sheet
21 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
at the end of 2011 the group was in the process of ﬁnalising a new vat recovery method with hm revenue  customs during 2012 
formal approval of the new method was received as a result of this the group recognised a net credit of £106m relating to the 
period from 1 april 2008 to 31 december 2012
22 related party transactions
the group has the following investments in subsidiaries and associates
country of
incorporation
ownership
interest 
principal
activity
moneysupermarketcom financial group limited uk 100 holding company
moneysupermarketcom limited uk 100 internet price comparison
moneysupermarketcom financial group holdings limited uk 100 holding company
moneysavingexpertcom limited uk 100 personal ﬁnance website
travelsupermarketcom limited uk 100 dormant
insuresupermarketcom limited uk 100 dormant
mortgage 2000 limited uk 100 financial intermediary services
making millionaires limited uk 100 holding company
moneysupermarket limited uk 100 dormant
icero gmbh germany 100 dormant
betcomparecom limited uk 100 dormant
financial services net limited uk 100 financial intermediary services
local daily deals limited uk 51 discounted deals website
hd decisions limited uk 25 credit scoring technology
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 81 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
22 related party transactions continued
the aggregate value of transactions and outstanding balances relating to entities which were not whollyowned subsidiaries at the 
balance sheet date were as follows
company
transaction
value
year ended
31 december
2012
£000
transaction
value
year ended
31 december
2011
£000
balance
outstanding
as at
31 december
2012
£000
balance
outstanding
as at
31 december
2011
£000
local daily deals limited 850 99 949 99
hd decisions limited 1110 794 90 0
transactions with key management personnel
in addition to their salaries the group also provides noncash beneﬁts to directors and executive ofﬁcers directors and executive 
ofﬁcers also participate in the group’s long term incentive plan scheme see note 18
gerald corbett michael wemms bruce carnegiebrown simon nixon peter plumb graham donoghue and paul doughty received 
dividends from the group totalling £21440050 in 2011 and £12996673 in 2012
during the prior year shortterm funding was made to paul doughty a director of the company the amount advanced was 
£800000 for a period of 5 days fixed interest of 7 per annum was charged along with an arrangement fee of 1 of the value of 
the advance there were no amounts outstanding to the company or any future commitments of the company as at 31 december 
2012 2011 nil
key management personnel compensation
key management deﬁned as the executive management team received the following compensation during the year
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
shortterm employee beneﬁts 1544 1843
sharebased payments 1445 1581
post employment beneﬁts 141 162
3130 3586
in addition to the above the executive management team received a bonus of £2061000 2011 £1815000 in relation to the 
reporting period
23 interest in associates
the group’s share of postacquisition total recognised proﬁt in hd decisions limited ‘hd’ for the year ended 31 december 2012 
was £158000 2011 £nil hd’s reporting date is 31 october
summary aggregated ﬁnancial information on associates 100 per cent
2012
£000
2011
£000
assets 1449 1057
liabilities 94 548
proﬁt 631 –
24 post balance sheet events
there have been no signiﬁcant post balance sheet events requiring disclosure 82 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
note
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
fixed assets
investments 5 181688 181688
goodwill 6 84954 –
intangibles 7 1055 –
total ﬁxed assets 267697 181688
current assets
debtors including amounts falling due in more than one year £39498 2011 £nil 8 85624 83840
cash at bank and in hand 473 40
total current assets 86097 83880
creditors amounts due within one year 9 89139 59544
net current liabilitiesassets 3042 24336
creditors amounts due after one year 10 23605 –
net assets 241050 206024
capital and reserves
share capital 12 107 102
share premium 12 201824 171297
other reserves 12 16942 16942
proﬁt and loss 12 22177 17683
241050 206024
the financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 4 march 2013 they were signed on 
its behalf by
peter plumb
paul doughty
registered number 6160943
 
company balance sheet
at 31 december 2012 83 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
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 408 of the companies act 2006 the proﬁt after 
tax for the company was £28725000 2011 proﬁt of £48846000 which included dividends received of £350 million
the company has taken the exemption in frs 1 5a and consequently no cash ﬂow statement is presented for the company
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 accompanying notes
 note 4 contingent consideration and remuneration
 n estments
investments are shown at cost less provision for impairment
intangible assets 
goodwill 
goodwill is recognised on the acquisition of subsidiary undertakings and businesses representing any excess of the fair value of the 
consideration given over the fair value of the identiﬁable assets and liabilities acquired the amounts are capitalised and written off on 
a straight line basis over its useful economic life which is ﬁve years provision is made for any impairment 
other intangible assets
the cost of other intangible assets acquired in a business combination is fair value at the date of acquisition where this can be 
measured reliably after initial recognition intangible assets are carried at cost less any accumulated amortisation and any 
accumulated impairment losses all of the company’s intangible assets 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 estimated useful lives are as follows
customer lists 3 years
for accounting purposes customer lists have been identiﬁed separately customer lists allow the company to undertake targeted 
marketing activities 
share based payment transactions
the group’s share schemes allow certain group employees to acquire ordinary shares in the company the fair value of share 
awards made is recognised as an employee expense with a corresponding increase in equity the fair value is measured at award 
date and spread over the period during which the employees become unconditionally entitled to the awards the fair value of the 
awards made is measured using an option valuation model taking into account the terms and conditions upon which the awards 
were made the amount recognised as an expense is adjusted to reﬂect the number of share awards expected to vest subsidiaries 
are recharged for the amount recognised as sharebased payments relating to awards to their employees the fair value of the 
recharge is recognised over the vesting period
di idends
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
 a ation
tax on the proﬁt or loss for the year 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
notes to the company  
financial statements 84 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
1 accounting policies continued
 a ation continued
current tax is the expected tax payable on the taxable income for the year using tax rates in force for the year 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 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 substantially enacted at the balance sheet date
2 sharebased payments
the analysis and disclosures in relation to sharebased payments are given in the consolidated financial statements in note 18
3 staff numbers and cost
the average number of persons employed by the company including directors during the year analysed by category was as follows
number of
employees
31 december
2012
number of
employees
31 december
2011
administration 5 5
the aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
wages and salaries 1265 1223
social security costs 157 146
other pension costs 110 108
sharebased payments 1146 1254
2678 2731
in addition to the above these persons received a bonus of £1635000 2011 £1479000 in relation to the reporting period
4 acquisitions
moneysavingexpertcom mse
on 21 september 2012 the company purchased trade and certain assets from martin lewis for an initial consideration of £645m 
the initial consideration of £645m was settled by a cash payment of £340m and £305m of equity represented by 221m ordinary 
shares in the company in addition a contingent amount of up to £270m payable in part against the achievement of certain 
nonﬁnancial metrics and in part at the discretion of the company board is dependent on the continued employment of martin 
lewis for three years following the acquisition part of this payment is due to individuals who were employed by mse at the point of 
acquisition and who remain in employment at the end of the earnout period with the remainder payable to martin lewis
the amounts due to mse employees have been accounted for separate to the business combination as remuneration the fair value 
of this element will be charged to the company proﬁt and loss account over the earnout period at the balance sheet date the fair 
value of the contingent amount was £17m and £02m has been charged to the company proﬁt and loss account during the period 
as an employment expense
under frs 7 ‘fair values in acquisition accounting’ the fair value of the remaining contingent amount is included in the cost of 
acquisition at the balance sheet date management have calculated the fair value of this as £233m this will be reviewed at each 
balance sheet date with any subsequent adjustments needed being made to goodwill
the company incurred acquisitionrelated costs of £34m during the period which under frs 7 ‘fair values in acquisition 
accounting’ are included in the cost of acquisition total consideration is therefore
£000
consideration
initial consideration paid in cash 34000
initial consideration paid in ordinary shares in the company 30531
contingent payable at fair value 23256
acquisition costs 3360
total consideration 91147
notes to the company  
financial statements continued 85 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
4 acquisitions continued
the acquisition had the following effect on the company’s assets and liabilities
recognised 
values on 
acquisition
£000
net assets at the acquisition date 1163
net identiﬁable assets and liabilities intangible assets see note 7 1163
goodwill on acquisition 89984
total consideration 91147
a detailed description of the intangible assets identiﬁed within the acquired business the methods used to value them and the 
background to the acquisition and resulting goodwill are provided in note 12 of the group’s consolidated financial statements
the results of the acquired business have been included in the company proﬁt and loss account with effect from 21 september 2012 
and in the three months and 9 days to 31 december 2012 the business contributed revenue of £24m and a net loss of £31m to the 
company proﬁt and loss account for the year if the acquisition had occurred on 1 january 2012 company revenue would have 
been an estimated £102m and loss before tax would have been an estimated £94m the proﬁt after tax of the acquired business  
in its previous ﬁnancial year to 31 october 2011 was £118m
5 investments
shares in 
subsidiary 
undertakings
£000
cost and net book value
at 31 december 2011 and 31 december 2012 181688
the investment represents the company’s holding in moneysupermarketcom financial group holdings limited which was obtained 
via a share for share exchange during the year in which the company exchanged its existing shareholding in moneysupermarketcom 
financial group limited for the entire share capital of moneysupermarketcom financial group holdings limited
6 goodwill
total
£000
cost
additions through business combination 89984
at 31 december 2012 89984
amortisation
charge for the year 5030
at 31 december 2012 5030
net book value
at 31 december 2012 84954
in september 2012 the company purchased certain trade and assets from martin lewis for consideration of up to £915m with an initial 
consideration of £645m paid on completion and contingent consideration of up to £270m payable dependent in part on the 
achievement of certain nonﬁnancial performance criteria and in part at the company’s discretion 86 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
notes to the company  
financial statements continued
6 goodwill continued
the acquisition gave rise to £900m of goodwill which is being amortised over a period of ﬁve years
7 intangible assets
customer lists
£000
cost
additions through business combination 1163
at 31 december 2012 1163
amortisation
charge for the year 108
at 31 december 2012 108
net book value
at 31 december 2012 1055
8 debtors
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
amount due from subsidiary undertakings 84312 83280
other debtors 1273 14
corporation tax – 546
deferred tax asset 39 –
85624 83480
9 creditors amounts falling due within one year
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
amount owed to subsidiary undertaking 87080 59315
accruals 2059 229
89139 59544
10 creditors amounts due after one year
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
contingent consideration 23605 –
11 dividends
31 december
2012
£000
31 december
2011
£000
declared and paid during the year
equity dividends on ordinary shares
final dividend for 2010 253p per share 12884
interim dividend for 2011 15p per share 7654
special dividend for 2011 393p per share 20000
final dividend for 2011 303p per share 15431 –
interim dividend for 2011 18p per share 9273 –
proposed for approval not recognised as a liability at 31 december
equity dividends on ordinary shares
final dividend for 2012 394p per share 21169 87 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
general
12 capital and reserves
the following rights attached to the shares in issue during the year
ordinary shares
the holders of ordinary shares were entitled to returns of capital receive a dividend and vote
issued and fully paid
number of shares
ordinary
shares
at 1 january 2011 and 1 january 2012 509288007
issued on exercising of ltips 5872192
issued on exercising of saye options 4296
issued on acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 22123894
at 31 december 2012 537288389
£
ordinary
shares
at 1 january 2011 and 1 january 2012 101857
issued on exercising of ltips 1174
issued on exercising of saye options 1
issued on acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom 4425
at 31 december 2012 107457
the group has a long term incentive plan under which conditional nil cost awards of ordinary shares in the company have been 
made to certain directors and employees of the group see note 18 of the consolidated financial statements
other reserves
share
premium
£000
other
reserves
£000
proﬁt and
loss
£000
at 1 january 2011 171297 16942 7175
total recognised proﬁt in year – – 48846
equity dividends – – 40538
sharebased payment – – 2200
at 31 december 2011 171297 16942 17683
total recognised proﬁt in year – – 28725
equity dividends – – 24704
sharebased payment – – 1979
distribution in relation to ltip – – 1506
new shares issued 30527 – –
at 31 december 2012 201824 16942 22177
other reserves represents the merger reserve for £16923000 generated upon the acquisition of moneysupermarketcom financial 
group limited by the company as discussed in the consolidated statement of changes in equity and a capital redemption reserve 
for £19000 arising from the acquisition of 95294118 deferred shares of 002p by the company from simon nixon
13 related party transactions
the company has taken the exemption in frs 83 not to disclose transactions with other group companies 88 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
financial statements
88 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
general
registered of ce 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 freehills llp
exchange house
primrose street
london ec2a 2hs
addleshaw goddard llp
100 barbirolli square
manchester m2 3ab
principal bankers
lloyds banking group plc
city ofﬁce
po box 1000 bx1 1lt
financial pr
the maitland consultancy limited
orion house
5 upper st martin’s lane 
london 
wc2h 9ea
registrar
capita registrars
the registry
34 beckenham road 
beckenham 
kent br3 4tu
telephone 0871 200 1536 uk
  calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras 
lines are open 830am530pm mondayfriday 
44 020 3008 2245 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 on the left 
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 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 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 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 0871 664 0445 calls cost 10p 
per minute plus network extras lines are open 800am430pm 
mondayfriday
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 freepost rlyxgztukrrg 
sas the registry 34 beckenham road beckenham 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 
cautionary note regarding 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 disclosure and 
transparency rules and applicable law the company undertakes no 
obligation to update revise or change any forward looking statements 
to reﬂect events or developments occurring on or after the date of this 
annual report 
shareholder information 89 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
general
declaration date of 2012 ﬁnal dividend 5 march 2013
announcement of 2012 full year results 5 march 2013
exdividend date of 2012 ﬁnal dividend 20 march 2013
record date of 2012 ﬁnal dividend 22 march 2013
interim management statement 17 april 2013
annual general meeting 17 april 2013
payment date of 2012 ﬁnal dividend 26 april 2013
half year end 30 june 2013
announcement of 2013 half year results july 2013
interim management statement november 2013
full year end 31 december 2013
announcement of 2013 full year results february 2014
 exact dates to be conﬁrmed
further copies of this annual report are available from the company’s registered ofﬁce or may be accessed on the investor relations 
section of the group’s website at wwwmoneysupermarketcom
financial calendar 90 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
general
notes 91 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
general
notes 92 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
general
notes  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 2012
business overview business review
2012 has been a good year for moneysupermarketcom
we saved british households £1 billion in 2012 that’s over 
£200 for each of the one in ﬁve british households who 
purchased a product through moneysupermarketcom last 
year we are proud of having achieved the goal we set 
ourselves back in 2009
much has happened since i joined the business in 2009 
reassuringly our strategy hasn’t needed to change and our 
market continues to grow as more and more customers gain 
the conﬁdence to shop for insurance ﬁnancial travel and 
home services products online i see no reason to expect 
this trend to change in the future
our business philosophy is the foundation of everything we do
 be the easiest way for our customers to shop for products 
 be the best way for our providers to acquire new customers
it is against this that i look back and summarise our 
achievements during 2012
at the heart of our business lies the curiosity of how to help 
more families save more money by shopping online to 
reduce their household bills and make the most of their 
money
marketing plays a major role in attracting more visitors to our 
site but it is the site design the expert content the 
presentation of product options and features and the ease 
of navigation that really makes the difference in helping 
customers ﬁnd the right product for them and then clicking 
through to purchase from the provider
therefore in 2012 we invested an additional £6m to 
accelerate our it development programme as part of our 
‘best shop’ strategy credit cards was the ﬁrst channel to 
be launched on the new platform this proved the platform’s 
capabilities and robustness a key advantage is the new 
platform delivers each channel automatically as a mobile 
friendly service no matter what device a customer is using 
we can now retire old legacy infrastructure and simplify our 
more insight more  
opportunitymore innovation
it operation while improving the shopping experience for 
our customers
our technology investments have also supported our 
relationships with providers having consolidated our 
customer information into a single customer view and built 
a new analytics team around the data we can now 
understand customer trends and behaviour in greater detail 
this will ensure we can tailor our services to our customers 
in a more targeted manner and help our providers gain 
unique insights into our customers this is an example of 
how we challenge ourselves to add value to the service we 
deliver to our providers
to help more customers make the best and most informed 
decision possible about which products to purchase we 
expanded our team of expert content writers thereby 
increasing the quantity and quality of help and guidance on 
our site we have also expanded our telephone support 
service hours and introduced live chat this is all part of our 
strategy to make moneysupermarketcom the easiest way 
for customers to understand research and purchase what 
are often complex products
marketing is vital for telling people about our brand and that 
most households can save over £1000 a year by spending a 
small amount of time switching their insurance energy and 
banking services this message was delivered by our 
successful ‘vegas’ and ‘£1000 man’ tv campaigns of 2012 
extending our brand proposition beyond motor insurance
we were still able to grow revenues by 13 while holding 
our tv brand advertising spend broadly ﬂat in 2012 thanks 
to the investment made in 2011 and 2012 in building a world 
class digital marketing team our digital experts have 
managed to make our paid search with google work much 
harder in 2012 than in previous years while retaining 
important leadership positions in google’s organic search 
across our core channels this demonstrates the expertise 
of our team given that google continues to change and 
evolve its search algorithms at an ever increasing pace 
peter plumb  
chief executive ofﬁcer
chief executive’s report 17 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
“ we saved british households 
£1 billion in 2012 that’s 
over £200 for each of 
the one in ve british 
households who purchased 
a product through 
moneysupermarketcom 
last year we are proud 
of having achieved the 
goal we set ourselves 
back in 2009”
many companies outsource digital marketing but we believe 
this is a core skill that is best kept inhouse to allow 
continued investment and development
our biggest investment for growth in the year was the 
acquisition of moneysavingexpertcom in september i am 
impressed by the tenacity of the moneysavingexpertcom 
team who week after week search for the best deals and 
ﬁll their site and weekly email with fantastic money saving 
tips over 7m people subscribe to the weekly email which 
is the best endorsement of the team’s focus on ﬁghting the 
user’s corner new services have already been launched by 
the team for example in response to the escalation of energy 
prices in the uk moneysavingexpertcom has launched its 
unique energy help tool cheap energy club users sign up to 
the club and in return will be offered the best energy rates 
available on the market plus an ongoing personalised service 
that will track all tariff and price movements regularly informing 
users of the best deals
2012 has been a good year for the group and most 
importantly a good year for our customers who between 
them have saved over £1 billion
looking forward to 2013 i see no reason to change our 
strategy it has served us well for the last four years and 
having performed our annual strategic review i am 
conﬁdent it will serve us well for the next three years
 our shop must continue to lead the market as voted by 
customers
 our providers must continue to rate 
moneysupermarketcom as their preferred partner
 our data insights will add value to our providers and 
support a personalised customer service
 our brand must remain the most trusted by customers 
to save money on their household bills 18 moneysupermarketcom group plc
annual report 2012
business overview business review
chief executive’s report continued
the strength of moneysupermarketcom as a business is 
the breadth of services we offer customers as we have 
seen over the last four years different years have different 
dynamics but as a whole the group’s diversity is its great 
strength
motor insurance is our largest channel motor insurance 
policy premiums ﬂuctuated signiﬁcantly during 2012 there is 
no real structural solution on the horizon to curb increasing 
prices during 2013 and beyond the ofﬁce of fair trading 
‘oft’ studied the private motor insurance market in 2011 
and referred it to the competition commission for further 
investigation in september it was encouraging to see that the 
outcome of the oft study acknowledged the positive role 
price comparison services had brought to customers 
however one of the key drivers of price increases that of 
escalating personal injury claims has not yet been fully 
addressed but is being considered by the ministry of justice 
there is no obvious simple solution
our money business however is in for a more challenging 
2013 the government’s ‘funding for lending’ scheme has 
had a negative impact on the country’s savers by reducing 
the competition for bank deposits easy access savings 
rates are at their lowest rate for ﬁve years at around 2 
compared to rates greater than 3 a year ago most 
forecasters believe this scheme will continue well into 2013
 
however for borrowers 2013 is shaping up to be a good 
year with credit cards and personal loans starting the year 
competitively a 24 month 0 interest rate credit card is now 
available and personal loans are at their cheapest rates for 
over 10 years at 51
rising energy costs are not only becoming a big issue for 
british households but they became a political issue in 
2012 average energy prices rose by 17 during 2012 while 
the government strives to meet challenging renewable 
energy generation targets by 2020 it is unlikely that these 
rising prices will slow government initiatives to reduce tariff 
complexity might go some way to help however most of 
the biggest savings to be made by our customers are by 
switching to online monthly direct debit tariffs and then by 
changing energy provider with varied launch dates and 
durations of ﬁxed price tariffs making a difference with door 
to door sales of energy now banned we see online energy 
switching as a major opportunity for customers to save 
money on their household bills
my conﬁdence in looking ahead comes from the security of 
having a great team at the moneysupermarketcom group 
our recruitment this year has been extensive from customer 
service staff to data analysts we invest in the best people we 
can ﬁnd and give them the infrastructure investment and 
support to thrive and pioneer i am delighted to welcome the 
165 new members of our team who joined last year including 
two new executives kenny jacobs our marketing director 
and vic darvey our director of new business and travel
we have much more to do in 2013 however we are on 
the right track we have a great team and we have the 
right strategy
my thanks to all our customers and providers for their 
support during 2012 as a group we look forward to saving 
more people more money in 2013
peter plumb 
chief executive ofﬁcer