Jelf moving ahead in wake of integration

Jelf has moved ahead of its consolidator rivals following a successful integration of the business and having reduced its debt to £1.1m.

That is the view of the company’s insurance chief executive Phil Barton, who told Insurance Times the company was now aiming to establish itself as the No.1 in the market.

He said that Jelf had also snapped up a number of big hitters from its competitors who had bought into its business proposition.

Barton said that while the company’s rivals were still grappling with the challenge of integration, Jelf had invested time in the process of assimilating new acquisitions into the business.

“The reality was 18 months ago we were probably behind the others because we deliberately sought to build relationships with the businesses that we bought,” he said.

‘Time on our side’

“We had taken time to understand the people and we had to build trust, and they understood that we weren’t about to destroy their client relationships, which enabled us when we decided to integrate to do it very effectively and with no dissention.

“The net result was, 18 months down the track, we were considerably ahead of the other consolidators.

“We have not suffered the people and client fall-out from executing our integration structure that many of our competitors have, so that says to me that we are sensitive in our approach and appreciate the critical role that people play in the insurance business.

“Most of the insurers would now openly acknowledge that we are 2 or 3 years ahead of where they are.”

Citing debt burden as the single biggest issue facing consolidators, Barton said that while the likes of Giles and Towergate had expressed their desire to do an IPO, they needed to prove their debt was under control and they could grow their business organically.

“Those guys are managing a debt burden which is considerable,” he said. “We have net debt of £1.1m on turnover of £70m and profit of £10-11m, and we have a track record of organic growth.”

Barton said that Jelf was now in a position to invest more heavily in the company, focusing on the schemes and affinity side and growing its private client business, having restructured its personal lines segment 18 months ago.

 Jelf has stepped up its recruitment drive in recent months, luring Rob Rees and Paul Williams from Towergate to head the schemes and affinities business and e-trading respectively.

New recruits

Meanwhile Theresa Stapleton has joined from RBSI as operations director, while Mandy Langton has come over from AXA to take on the role of affinity relationship manager. The latest recruit is Tony Parker from Oval, as business development director for the private client business.

“We were a complex business, we were a child of consolidation,” he said.

“Our aim over the next 6 to 12 months was to establish ourselves as a coherent, integrated, independent broking business.

“Our strategy is to establish ourselves as a leading insurance broker in the communities we are in.

“I’m pleased to say we have managed to do that. We have one management board, we are one limited company, one regulated entity, we have one placement strategy across the group and we are one operating system.

“The simplification we have put through the business over the last 18 months has yielded a fantastic return and it’s meant that we can focus back on what insurance brokers should be doing which is looking after our clients, writing new business and growing the top line.

“When every other insurance brokers seems to be struggling in the headwinds which are a difficult economy, we are making hay.”

The company produced top line growth of 4.4% and 5.2% profit growth in the last financial year to 30 September 2011.

In the first 6 months of this year it has added another 4% top line growth, while new business is up 14% on last year.

Barton put the results down to the focus of the business and attracting the top talent, at the same time as generating cash through organic growth to pay down its debt and invest in the business.

Not ruling out future acquisitions, he said they would have to be in the form of bolt-ons available at the right price.

Having launched a new London office in November 2011, with an 8-man team headed by Steve Careford, formerly of Towergate, Jelf is now building a new inbound and outbound call centre in Worcestershire which is due to open in the fourth quarter.