The company said limited product availability in the loans and mortgage markets meant revenues from its money-based division were down by around 10 per cent in the third quarter on a strong trading period a year earlier.

Revenues in insurance and home services have remained strong, but overall moneysupermarket said trading in the quarter had been mixed.
In the first half of the year, the company increased revenues by 27 per cent to £99.4m and saw underlying earnings improve by 14 per cent to £30.1m.

Visitors to the group's websites increased by 39 per cent to 62m and transaction levels rose 37 per cent to 39.6m. Moneysupermarket operates under its flagship brands moneysupermarket.com and travelsupermarket.com, which allow consumers to compare prices for mortgages, loans, credit cards and package holidays.

Majority shareholder and chief executive Simon Nixon said the half-year results demonstrated the range of the company's business.

He said: "We have seen the insurance, travel and home services businesses continue to develop and grow quickly as consumers seek to maximise the buying power of their disposable income as economic conditions have worsened."

He added that the company expected to launch a comparison service based on shopping in the next few weeks.

Mr Nixon added: "Our second half revenue growth will be solid, albeit slower than the first half. Overall, in the longer term price comparison remains a large and growing sector and we will continue to invest to enhance our leading and diversified market position."

Moneysupermarket suffered a blow last month when it emerged one of Britain's biggest loans providers, First Plus, was stopping new business, potentially knocking full-year revenues by £7m and earnings by up to £5m.

The company has sought to mitigate the impact of the lost revenues, while it said trading with First Plus had been extended until the end of this month.