esure, the personal lines joint venture by HBOS and Peter Wood, has reported profit for the first time in the three years since it was launched.
The company reported profit of close to £1m within the six months interim results from Halifax Bank of Scotland.
The company said the move into profit was in line with its original four-year prediction.
esure said sales of insurance within its three brands, esure (motor and home), Halifax Car Insurance and Sainsbury's Bank Car Insurance, generated gross written premiums, underwritten by esure, of £129m for the first half of the year.
esure said this was a 29% increase on the figures recorded for the first half of 2003, but it does not include esure travel insurance sales which are underwritten by St Andrews Insurance.
esure's total policies-in-force now stand at over 850,000, it said.
esure chairman Peter Wood, said: "We are pleased to have moved into profit, particularly given the highly competitive car insurance market conditions we have seen in 2004 so far.
"esure's awareness has grown rapidly since launch, making the brand a household name, and we have managed to deliver good growth from this awareness during the last year.
"Enormous work has gone into this result which is thanks to a combination of esure's strong marketing, internet efficiencies and careful underwriting."
