Member Article

HomeServe hopes to lead home repair's digital revolution with £37m acquisition

West Midlands home repair and improvements business HomeServe plc has acquired shareholdings in Checkatrade in the UK and Habitissimo in Spain for a combined total of £37m.

With an ambitious strategy to develop its digital presence, the Walsall firm invested in the two market leaders due to their provision of tradespeople performing home repairs and improvements via online platforms.

Checkatrade, based in Selsey, is the UK’s most recognised and trusted online directory of high quality, customer recommended tradespeople with nearly 1m unique customer visits a month, resulting in approximately 1.3m jobs per annum.

HomeServe has acquired a 40 per cent interest in the business with an option to increase its position by a further 35 per cent in two years.

Habitissimo is an international online business that provides support for home improvements and repairs, connecting homeowners to trusted local tradespeople.

Based in Mallorca (Spain), Habitissimo receives over 3.6 million unique customer visits a month, resulting in approximately 0.25m jobs per annum across nine countries in Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy and France) and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia).

HomeServe has acquired a 70 per cent interest in the business with an option to increase its position by a further 30 per cent in either four or five years’ time.

Checkatrade and Habitissimo have access to around 24,000 and 21,000 tradespeople respectively, which combined with HomeServe’s existing networks, will give HomeServe access to over 50,000 Certified Home Experts across a range of over 20 trades.

Richard Harpin, Chief Executive, HomeServe plc, commented: “Our investments in Checkatrade and Habitissimo underline HomeServe’s ambition to be at the forefront of the technological revolution as the world’s most trusted provider of home repairs and improvements.

“Both of these businesses provide innovative digital platforms, connecting customers to reliable tradespeople.

“With leading positions in the home repair and improvements market, these businesses will broaden HomeServe’s reach enabling us to meet the needs of younger, non-insurance minded customers who are looking to find immediate help from a wide range of home trades.

“Together, these investments open up exciting new possibilities to help our customers in their homes as we continue to develop our online capabilities and digital platform solutions.”