Insurance group Admiral delivers jump in profits as car customers drive growth
FTSE-100 insurance group Admiral reported a boost in profits and hiked its dividend payout today as it felt the lift of more than half a million new customers in its core motor insurance division last year.
Underlying pre-tax profits jumped 26 per cent to £769m for the full year after the group’s customers topped eight million.
Revenues rose 19 per cent to £1.55bn which was bolstered by a 13 per cent rise in international car insurance customers to 1.81m.
Group boss Milena Mondini de Focatiis said a bumper performance in UK motor insurance had underpinned what has been a strong year for the group.
“In 2021 we improved in all of our key metrics, including exceeding 8 million customers, increasing customer loyalty and recording exceptional profits of £769m,” she said.
“The strong performance of UK Motor insurance is the key driver of our results. We also continued to expand our customer proposition. In 2021 alone, beyond UK Motor we added more than half a million customers, now representing around 40per cent of total Group customers.”
De Focatiis said both UK household and International businesses had also delivered double-digit growth despite challenging market conditions abroad.
Shareholders are now in for a healthy payout of 118 pence per share, up from 86 pence per share last year. The payout includes a special dividend of 75.8p per share, which includes 46p per relating to the disposal of the Penguin Portals firm.