Admiral has announced record profit growth over the first six months of this year, fuelled by the success of its non-underwriting businesses, including aggregator Confused.com.
Profit before tax rose by 26% year on year to £86.3m, while group turnover grew by 16% from £359.2m to £417.8m.
Total premiums grew by 10% from £294m to £324.6m. Despite fierce competition in the motor market, Admiral grew its motor customer base by 16% to 1.4 million.
Admiral raised rates on average by 5% in the year ended 30 June 2007, and has since implemented further increases.
Insurance analyst Numis said Admiral was out-performing despite tough conditions.
Henry Engelhardt, chief executive of Admiral, said: “The UK car insurance market continues to be challenging. We are delighted to have once again increased both under-writing and ancillary profits while growing the number of vehicles insured.”
Confused.com also delivered strong growth, increasing its profit to £19.7m – up from £14.3m over the second half of 2006.
Engelhardt said the company would look to grow its aggregator business.
He said: “There will be more competition in this sector, some of which went live during the first part of 2007 and more competitors are on their way. We will work hard to defend our leadership in this market.”
