Kwik-Fit name will not be tinkered with

Kwik-Fit Insurance Services will keep its brand name following the £215m acquisition by Fortis UK.

Fortis UK chief executive Barry Smith said he did not want to interfere with the business, which includes motor broker Express Insurance and personal lines intermediary The Green Insurance Company.

Smith said: “Our intention is to keep the business as it is today: a strong proposition to the customer, with a strong management team.”

Kwik-Fit has around 600,000 customers holding 1.2 million policies in motor, household, pet and travel. The broker pulls in customers through posting itself on the aggregators, a direct channel, and telesales.

On the possibility of redundancies, Smith said: “We have no plans for that. We clearly see that it is a separate operating business from Kwik-Fit Group. Therefore, our working assumption is that this is pretty much a standalone. We expect there to be some synergy benefits, but that is not the same as redundancies.”

Kwik-Fit made a profit of £9.9m in 2009, up 12.7% from £8.8m in 2008. Turnover for last year was £66.9m, up 4% on 2008’s £64.2m.

Reduced margins at Express Insurance caused profit before tax to fall by £1m last year, or 27%, from its 2008 level. Revenues at The Green Insurance Company increased 62% and profit before tax almost doubled to £700,000.

Kwik-Fit group managing director Brendan Devine said: “We are delighted to be part of Fortis, which is a highly reputable global business. Kwik-Fit Insurance Services has seen profitable growth over recent years, and being part of the Fortis group will allow us to continue on this journey.

“This is a great strategic fit for our business and, with Fortis being such a large multinational, it gives our people even more scope for further development and career growth.”