Record year for Admiral

by David Masters

Story link: Record year for Admiral

Admiral has reported record profits for 2007 of £182.1 million, representing a 24% increase compared to 2006. The insurer’s GWP increased 11% to £631 million.

The company’s combined operating ratio fell by 2% to 85%, whilst their policy count increased by 16% to 1.5 million.

Confused.com, Admiral’s aggregator, reported profits of £36.7 million, an increase of £13.7 million compared to 2006. The site generated 13 million quotes for the year, an increase of 43% compared to the previous year.

Total dividends to shareholders paid out by Admiral was £115 million, or 43.8p per share. This is up 22% compared to 2006.

Henry Engelhardt, Admiral’s chief executive, said of the results: “2007 was a good year for the Admiral Group. We continue to grow our UK business and invest in our overseas ventures.

“We have made great strides towards the creation of an even better future.

“In the UK, our car insurance business grew substantially while we maintained our combined ratio advantage over the market.

“The UK business also achieved record ancillary income, growing consistently in line with the growth in the policy base.

“Confused has continued to perform very well, considering the influx of aggregator sites.

“Confused’s market share has declined during 2007, but this has been in a growing market and its quote volumes have held up well.

“As we’ve previously said, we will spend money to defend this market-leading position but, realistically, 2008 will be a much tougher year within which to grow.”

Admiral’s chairman Alastair Lyons added: “A highlight of 2007 was admission in December to the FTSE 100, an achievement of which everyone at Admiral can justifiably be proud in slightly over three years since flotation.

“Over this period, taking dividends and share appreciation together we achieved a 335% total return for shareholders.”