Homeserve to pay special dividend after profits rise with new customers

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - British repair and insurance company Homeserve (LSE: HSV.L - news) will pay shareholders a special dividend on top of a rise in payouts for its financial year, after it posted a 1.5 percent rise in core earnings on the back of signing more customers mainly in the United States.

The company said it would pay shareholders a special dividend of 97 million pounds ($151.74 million), or 30 pence per share, in July, which it said reflected its positive outlook for this year.

Homeserve will also pay an final 2014-15 dividend of 11.5 pence, compared with 11.3 pence paid last year.

The London-listed firm reported adjusted profit before tax of 85.4 million pounds over a 3.8 percent rise in revenue to 584.2 million pounds thanks to an increase in customer numbers from 5.5 million to 6.3 million. ($1 = 0.6393 pounds) (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by Li-mei Hoang)