TOP NEWS: Admiral profit boosted as pandemic reduces car journeys

(Alliance News) - Admiral Group PLC on Thursday reported a strong 2020 as the pandemic resulted ...

Alliance News 4 March, 2021 | 9:45AM
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(Alliance News) - Admiral Group PLC on Thursday reported a strong 2020 as the pandemic resulted in fewer car journeys and thus lower claims volumes.

Net revenue for 2020 rose 8% to GBP1.31 billion as customers rose by 10% to 7.7 million. Pretax profit jumped 20% to GBP608.2 million.

"The year saw profit before tax exceeding GBP600 million, driven by strong reserve releases and a decrease in claims frequency as people drove less during lockdowns," said Chief Executive Milena Mondini de Focatiis.

A "notably lower accident year loss ratio" helped drive the profit improvement, due to lower claims volumes resulting from significant reductions in miles driven, especially during the first lockdown but also in the second half.

The firm reported a loss ratio of 54.% for 2020, versus 64.9% in 2019 and 67.3% in 2018. The combined ratio improved to 81.2% in 2020 from 88.6% in 2019. A combined ratio above 100% means an insurer is making a loss from its underwriting, so the further below 100% the better.

Admiral expects the 2021 loss ratio will be higher than 2020 as claims frequency is likely to return to more normal levels and the impact of discounted policies written in 2020 will feed through into premium earned in 2021.

"Our travel insurance business is small relative to the group and made a very small loss of around GBP1 million, though of course volumes ended the year massively behind plan. Admiral doesn't sell business interruption insurance and so wasn't impacted by the major losses to that product line," the firm noted.

Admiral recommended a final dividend of 86.0 pence per share, up from 77p for 2019, which will bring the total payout for 2020 to 156.5p, up 12%.

Shares in Admiral were down 1.7% at 3,094.00p in London on Thursday.

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Admiral Group PLC 2,735.00 GBX 0.92

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