Staff at car insurance giant Admiral to get £1,800 in free shares after record half year
The Cardiff car insurance to loans group has reported a 69% rise in pre-tax profits
Chief executive of Admiral Milena Mondini de Focatiis
(Image: Matthew Horwood)
Car insurance to loans group Admiral has reported a record half year financial performance with 13,000 staff being rewarded with free shares with a value worth up to £1,800.
Following record revenues and profit for full year 2024, the Cardiff headquartered venture and Wales' only FTSE 100 business, maintained a strong upwards trajectory in the first half of this year.
Admiral, which employs more than 7,000 in South Wales but also has insurance businesses in Spain, Italy and France, posted a 69% rise pre-tax profits from continuing operations (not including its US car insurance business which is being sold to J.C. Flower) from £307.6m in the first half of 2024 to £521m.
Its UK insurance business (mainly car, but also with other lines like pet) performed strongly adding more than a million customers on the first half of 2024 to reach 9.3 million. Profits for its UK car insurance business rose 56%.
Overall, group customers were up just over one million at 11.42 million.
However, European customers were down marginally (3%) from 1.96 million to 1.91 million. Overall group customers were up more than two million at 11.42 million
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Group revenues came in the same as the first half of 2024 at £3.1bn. It also announced an interim dividend payment of 115p per say (71p last year). The dividend will be paid to shareholders on October 3.
Following the publishing of the interim results Admiral's price was up more than 7%.
The group's lending business, Admiral Money, increased its loan balances on a year earlier by 25% to £1.28bn.
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Welcoming the financial results chief executive Milena Mondini de Focatiis said: "We have delivered another excellent first half with strong execution across all strategic objectives. Group profit increased 69% to a record £521.
"We have an additional one million customers across our diversified businesses compared to this time last year, due to our focus on offering competitively priced cover and excellent service across our diversified businesses.
'In the UK, car insurance prices have been falling for the last 18 months due to softer inflation. Our disciplined approach to pricing and growth means that we reported a great performance across the board.
"Our UK motor business increased its profit by 56% and the UK Household and Admiral Money businesses continued to grow, more than doubling their respective profit. In Europe, we saw good progress with growth in France and Italy close to restoring profitability.
'In March, we said that our priority was to stay efficient and agile and we are continuously investing in our data and technological capabilities to future-proof our competitive advantage. We are enhancing the customer experience so we can help our 11 million customers safely back onto the road, back into their home or back from abroad faster than ever.
"I'm proud of our colleagues' customer-centric approach which has resulted in an excellent group net promoter score. I am also proud of the way that we are supporting customers' transition to a lower carbon economy and boosting their resilience and preparedness for extreme weather.
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'I'm very excited to see our businesses go from strength to strength. I'm confident in our fundamentals and adaptability which mean that we are well-placed for further success, delivering even more value for our shareholders and our growing customer base."
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