* Full-year new policy sales better than expected
* Hopes for similar policy growth in 2009-10
* Targets expansion into Germany, Italy, Canada
* To take 5 million sterling charge on the emergency services arm
* Shares up 4.8 percent
(Adds CEO, analyst comment, share price)
By John Bowker
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - British home insurance group Homeserve said its high proportion of elderly customers helped deliver a record performance for the year to end-March, and it was hoping for a similar result next year.
The company, which provides cover for a range of emergencies such as broken boilers and over-flowing washing machines, said on Tuesday its profit for the year to end March would come in at the top end of forecasts.
It sold a better-than-expected 1.75 million new UK policies, bringing total policies to 7 million -- up from 6.57 million this time last year. The shares were up 4.8 percent at 1135 pence by 0948 GMT, valuing the business at 740 million pounds ($1.05 billion).
Chief executive and founder Richard Harpin -- whose 17 percent stake is worth 125 million pounds -- said he hoped to keep selling new policies at the similar rate in 2009/10.
"This is the fourth year we have delivered more than 1.6 million new policies, so it would be a shame not to achieve that number again this year," he said.
He said the group's customer retention rate was 83 percent -- reflecting the characteristics of an older customer.
"The people who buy our policies are older -- worriers. One half of our customers are over 60," he said.
Analysts forecasts are for profit before tax and amortisation to come in at around 95 million pounds, according to Reuters data, up from 85 million last year.
"The company has low cyclicality, good visibility and high margins, and it is cash generative," Panmure Gordon analyst Andy Brown said in a note.
INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
Homeserve has operations in Spain, France and the United States as well as Britain, and said Germany, Italy and Canada were next on the agenda for expansion.
"Those are the three on our radar for opening in due course," Harpin said, adding that the acquisition of policy books was the preferred route.
The international businesses made a combined profit for the first time last year, with the U.S. moving into the black for the second half -- ahead of expectations.
Homserve said its emergency services division continued to struggle in the current market but had been reorganised at a one-off charge of 5 million pounds and had taken the bulk of 250 job losses across the group.
It sends a wide range of tradesmen to people's homes including carpenters and plumbers, although the division has generated historically lower margins than the insurance arm. ($1=.7052 Pound) (Reporting by John Bowker; Editing by Mike Nesbit and Jon Loades-Carter)