Admiral Q3 turnover up 50%

UK motor insurer Admiral has reported group turnover of £446m for the third quarter of 2010 – an increase of more than 50% over its Q3 2009 turnover, the company said in its interim management statement.

Turnover includes total premiums written including co-insurers’ shares and other revenue.

The group added that it is on track to meet analysts’ consensus profit estimates for 2010.

“The UK business remains the driving force of the group’s success and we continue to develop our international businesses,” said Admiral chief executive Henry Engelhardt in a statement. “Our UK car insurance operation continues to benefit from positive market conditions; we grew vehicle count by 28% year-on-year to over 2.3m whilst also increasing premium rates.”

Turnover from non-UK car insurance increased by 87% compared with the third quarter of 2009 to £19.3 million.

However, turnover at Admiral’s price comparison site, Confused.com is stable compared with the first half of the year as margins remained under pressure. The company said when it announced its first-half results that confused.com had lost market share because of a poorly-received advertising campaign.

Admiral also announced it was adding two new reinsurers – Spain’s Mapfre Re and Bermuda’s XL Re – to its panel from 2011 to 2013. XL Re will assume 2.5% of Admiral’s total written premiums on a quota-share basis for the three years, while Mapfre Re will assume 2.5% in 2011 and 3% for the remaining two years.

These arrangements add to the existing 45% co-insurance arrangement with Munich Re and the quota-share arrangements with new Re, Hannover Re and Swiss Re. Admiral has also extended the relationships with its existing reinsurers until 2013.