Charles Taylor reports ‘sound’ finances as it trims £1.4m of debt

Charles Taylor Consulting says its financial position is ‘sound’ after cutting £1.4m from its net debt in the first quarter of 2012.

The loss adjusting and consulting firm said in its first quarter interim management statement that net debt had dropped to £32.6m as of 31 March this year, compared with £34m at the end of last year.

However, the company warned that because its main bonus and final dividend payments are made in April and May respectively, it expects the debt number to increase temporarily in the second quarter.

While providing no numbers, the company said overall results for the first quarter of 2012 were in line with expectations, which are unchanged.

The company said its management services and insurance support services businesses had performed ahead of expectations and its adjusting services as expected.

Bucking the trend was the run-off business, which Charles Taylor said had performed slightly below expectations. However it added that because of the high level of non-controlling ownership of this business, it would have little impact in earnings attributable to Charles Taylor shareholders.  

Charles Taylor announced its decision to exit non-life run-off in its full-year 2011 results after losses from that line of business caused profit after tax to halve to £4.6m (2010: £10.6m).

The company plans to transfer the Alico life run-off business, which it acquired last October, to its existing Isle of Man life company in the third quarter,. which it said would enable the offshore business to release cash.

Charles Taylor said it had made good progress in the first quarter of implementing key elements of its profesional services  business strategy. The comany has also been rolling out a new corporate identity, and will vote on a name change to Charles Taylor plc at its annual general meeting.

 “2012 has started well for Charles Taylor. We have taken important steps to implement our strategy to deliver long term growth in our professional services businesses and, as planned, have also successfully refocused our run-off business on the niche offshore life insurance run-off sector,” Charles Taylor chief executive David Marock said in a statement. “We are well positioned to achieve our vision to become the professional services provider of choice to the global insurance market and I remain excited about the group’s future prospects.”