HomeServe sees profit at top end of expectations on U.S. boost

(Reuters) - HomeServe Plc expects full-year adjusted pretax profit to be at the upper end of market expectations and "significantly ahead" of last year as its U.S. customer base continues to grow, the British home repairs provider said on Thursday.

Analysts have estimated adjusted profit before tax in the range of 159.5 million pounds to 161.7 million pounds, the company said. It reported a profit of 141.7 million pounds last year.

HomeServe said it had signed on more customers in North America, with numbers rising to 4 million at the end of March, compared with 3.6 million customers a year earlier.

However, it saw a decline in customer numbers in the UK and Spain, while memberships in France remained largely the same.

The Portsmouth-based company provides home emergency, repair and heating installation services and primarily operates in the UK, United States, France and Spain.

"The group retention rate remained strong at 82 percent and across all geographies, HomeServe's focus on delivering additional products to those customers who value its services drove increases in net income per customer," the company said.

(Reporting by Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham and Gopakumar Warrier)