Quidco profits and the £9m question

richard@imutual
Posts: 6163
Joined: Wed Jun 23 2010 10:19am
Sharing: 2stars.png
Has thanked: 1880 times
Been thanked: 4097 times
Contact:

Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by richard@imutual » Thu May 16 2013 12:01pm

quidco have recently filed their financial results to 31/7/2012, which may be of interest to imutual shareholders as it gives an idea of the market potential for our company

I posted details of earlier results for quidco and tcb here, here and here. The latest quidco accounts are as follows (figures in brackets are for the previous year):

Turnover £55,216,256 (43,471,693)
Cost of sales £46,360,509 (£37,956,412)
Gross profit £8,855,747 (£5,515,281)
Admin expenses £5,298,963 (£3,682,468)
Operating profit £3,556,784 (£1,832,813)
Interest £28,704 (£22,223)
Pre-tax profit £3,585,488 (£1,855,036)

I think they are to be congratulated on a great set of results for their shareholders. But I do think this illustrates that there is a gap in the market for a money-saving company where the customers and shareholders are one and the same and therefore have the same interests :)

Quidco and tcb have established the phrase "100% cashback site" (and, as a result, we've been obliged to use the same phrase). But, of course, no company (not even imutual) passes on on ALL of its revenue to customers - it needs to cover its running costs and generate profits for shareholders. In the case of quidco, you'll notice that in just the 12 months in question there was a difference of nearly 9 million pounds between the revenue they received and what they paid out to members in cashback (assuming that "cost of sales" purely relates to cashback paid out). In contrast, imutual's entire running costs last year were less than £40k :shock:

Given that, until recently, "the UK's no 1 cashback site" charged £5 for the privilege of membership (and many members are still locked into that charge for up to 12 months), their members might be entitled to ask questions about this £9m 'gap'. :crazy: Especially given that imutual now offers better rates than quidco at over 85% of its merchants :roll:

The picture is similar at "The UK's most generous cashback site", where the last 3 set of accounts show a difference of nearly £5.5m between income and cashback to members. Not my definition of "generous"...

I don't deny that both quidco and tcb offer some great deals to members. The question is, would they be even more generous if their members could hold them to account in the same way that imutual members can? And if the answer is "yes", then doesn't that make a case for supporting the imutual model - and that by helping us to achieve a similar size to the "big two" you could benefit from even better cashback deals in the long run? Not to mention having part-ownership of what would then be a very valuable company ;)

kevinchess1
Posts: 23770
Joined: Mon Jun 28 2010 11:02pm
Location: Miles away from the sea
Has thanked: 12599 times
Been thanked: 17167 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by kevinchess1 » Thu May 16 2013 12:26pm

I V much doubt when we get to that stage, that the members will let you have £9,000,000 sloshing around in a bank account.
I'm surprised Q don't offer 'Top up' like TCB
With those sort of funds you could have a daily draw for a £100 only for their Premuim members
Would certainly get the membership up
Thanked by: hermie65
Politically incorrect since 69

kevinchess1
Posts: 23770
Joined: Mon Jun 28 2010 11:02pm
Location: Miles away from the sea
Has thanked: 12599 times
Been thanked: 17167 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by kevinchess1 » Fri May 17 2013 11:41am

Also explains how they can have a comp with one prize of £10,000 :shock:
But again that don't help them as much as say 100x£100 would ;)
They could do with a Comps manager :thumbup:
Thanked by: richard@imutual
Politically incorrect since 69

richard@imutual
Posts: 6163
Joined: Wed Jun 23 2010 10:19am
Sharing: 2stars.png
Has thanked: 1880 times
Been thanked: 4097 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by richard@imutual » Fri May 17 2013 11:51am

kevinchess1 wrote:£9,000,000 sloshing around in a bank account.
£9m is last year's annual gross profit, not their bank balance. Their net assets actually dropped by nearly £1m. Their outgoings included:
- £5.3m in administrative expenses
- £3.6m paid out in dividends to shareholders
- £930k in tax

They actually have over £12m in the bank.

kevinchess1
Posts: 23770
Joined: Mon Jun 28 2010 11:02pm
Location: Miles away from the sea
Has thanked: 12599 times
Been thanked: 17167 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by kevinchess1 » Fri May 17 2013 11:53am

:oops:
My mistaek
They only made £3,500,000
I don't know how they get by on such a trifling sum :D
Thanked by: blythburgh
Politically incorrect since 69

timco
Posts: 567
Joined: Thu Dec 30 2010 10:58pm
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 369 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by timco » Sat May 18 2013 4:03am

They of course this year are all doing some form of High st cashback (Click Snap and various other silly names) it will be interesting to see how this impacts on income and costs, I am yet still to work out how it is financed unless they claim the amount direct from the retailer then it will be interesting to see how they account for the sum. (I presume it is just part of the huge marketing budgets they all have).

Is there a possibility that Im will be going into this area?
Thanked by: blythburgh

Sarah
Posts: 5828
Joined: Sat Jun 26 2010 10:01am
Has thanked: 432 times
Been thanked: 4412 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by Sarah » Sat May 18 2013 9:07am

I suspect it comes directly from their bottom line, really, but presumably doesn't cost much as not many people participate in those offers.
Thanked by: blythburgh

blythburgh
Posts: 17733
Joined: Tue Jun 29 2010 7:14pm
Location: The Far East
Has thanked: 35001 times
Been thanked: 6106 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by blythburgh » Sat May 18 2013 9:21am

The more people we get to join the bigger imutual gets and the more money there will be to reward members who are actively supporting the site via purchases.

I do tell a lot of strangers on the phone and in shops etc so maybe I do get people to join even though they are not my direct refs.

One day I will get around to having something I can give to people with my ref link on. But there are only 24 hours in the day. sigh
Thanked by: richard@imutual, Usa123
Keep smiling because the light at the end of someone's tunnel may be you, Ron Cheneler

hugginhill
Posts: 144
Joined: Sat Jul 17 2010 7:12pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 77 times

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by hugginhill » Sat May 18 2013 10:38am

blythburgh,

Vista print will do you 250 cards, in effect for free - cost of postage is a few pence less than the cashback for new customers and you'll get a few more shares.

Usa123
Posts: 69
Joined: Sat Dec 15 2012 5:29pm
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 37 times
Contact:

Re: Quidco profits and the £9m question

Post by Usa123 » Wed May 29 2013 8:44am

I hope we all do as well as Quid soon.

I am always trying to sign up new members via my ref.link on Netmums etc..
Thanked by: davidlmorgan85, blythburgh

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests