HomeServe sees no rise in cancellations amid COVID-19 pandemic

(Reuters) - British home repair services provider HomeServe Plc <HSV.L> said on Tuesday it has not yet seen any noticeable increase in cancellations despite the coronavirus crisis, but has paused most large scale marketing campaigns.

The company's adjusted pretax profit for the year ended March 31 rose to 181 million pounds ($221.60 million) from 161.7 million pounds a year ago, while revenue jumped 13% to 1.13 billion pounds.

HomeServe shares, part of the FTSE 250 midcap index, climbed 5% to 1,224 pence by 0708 GMT.

"We have all become acutely aware of the importance of our homes over the last few months, which means that HomeServe's purpose of making home repairs and improvements easy has never been more relevant," founder and Chief Executive Officer Richard Harpin said in a statement.

Millions of people across the world have been confined to their homes amid government-imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

HomeServe said it was now working with over 950 utilities, up from 700 in fiscal 2019, and has access to 64 million households versus 60 million a year earlier.

"HomeServe has proven resilient during the COVID-19 crisis, making further progress in signing new affinity partners and customers, as well as continuing to complete emergency repairs," J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a note as they upgraded the stock to "overweight".

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar and Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)