Angie's List will drop membership fee as part of new profitable growth plan

Angie's List Inc. laid out a new profitable growth plan in a statement released ahead of its investor day that will cut its ratings and reviews membership fee and offer new tiered services. "Our new profitable growth plan removes the barrier that has limited our growth and enables Angie's List to engage with more consumers and more services providers than ever before," Angie's List Chief Executive Scott Durchslag said in a statement. The home services company plans to begin opening the paywall and rolling out tiered offerings in select markets in the second quarter of 2016, expected to finish by the third quarter. The company said it expects the benefit from lower marketing spend in 2016 to be offset by a decline in membership revenue. Angie's List expects overall revenue for 2016 in a range of $345 million to $355 million, with revenue growing to $750 million by 2020. The FactSet revenue consensus for 2016 is $362 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are expected to fall somewhere between $31 million and $35 million in 2016, and free cash flow should be break-even. Shares of Angie's List are down more than 10% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 index is down nearly 3%.

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