Charles Taylor hopes to make acquisitions this year

Loss adjusting and consulting firm Charles Taylor is hoping to make acquisitions this year as part of plans to boost profits.  

The company grew revenues by 6% to £108.2m in 2012, but adjusted profit was flat at £9.6m.

Speaking to Insurance Times after the release of the results this morning, Charles Taylor chief executive David Marock said the group would be looking to acquire “bolt-on” businesses over the coming year. “The acquisitions we’ve got in mind are bolt-on type acquisitions to fit into what we are fundamentally about, which is professional services in the insurance space,” he said.

The company had announced plans for acquisitions in 2012 but did not find the right opportunities. “We did look at quite a lot of options but they didn’t meet our criteria, so I’m pleased to say we didn’t do anything,” Marock said. “I never want to get in the position where I feel pressurised to do a deal. In 2013 we will look at more opportunities and I’m hopeful we will find something that does meet our criteria.”

The expansion plans follow a year of mixed results for the three core businesses within the group.

Charles Taylor’s management services division posted revenues of £7.1m up from £5.7m in 2011, with new products in kidnap and ransom, traders insurance and a safety management service helping growth. Marock said new products would continue this year: “We have a number of products in mind and I’m quite optimistic we will get some new stuff out over this year.”

The company’s insurance support services also saw new product launches in 2012, but performance was below expectations because the products were released later in the year. The division’s profit fell to £0.1m (2011: £0.2m). “We wanted more traction on some of the new products,” Marock said. “Unfortunately we got them to market later in the year than we hoped, but we would expect to see that helping 2013.”

The group’s loss adjusting business was rocked by a 40% drop in claims in the energy sector, but it did manage to maintain revenues. “The downturn in claims was a market-wide downturn specifically in the energy space,” Marock said. “It made it a particularly quiet year on the claims front which doesn’t help work generation. The good news story is that despite what was happening in the market we managed to maintain our revenues.”

Loss adjusting profits were also hit by investment in three new offices. Marock said the company woudl continue investing in the business in 2013 and beyond. “It’s a long term business and we’ve got to keep investing,” he said. “We set-up offices in Columbia, Indonesia and the west coast of the US. I expect to do more of that in 2013.”

The ambitious chief executive has high hopes for all three core divisions. “We have incredibly strong relationships with our clients so there’s no real reason why we shouldn’t be able to grow across the whole group. And we’ve got initiatives underway to exactly that effect,” Marock said.