NCI plans commercial expansion with £5m war chest

NCI has a £5m war chest and is in the market for an acquisition that will help it to expand into small commercial lines.

The broker reported a 28% rise in pre-tax profits this morning, but wants to reduce its dependence on motor insurance, an area whose volatility the company identified as a risk to future growth.

Chief executive Neil Richards-Smith told Insurance Times NCI wanted to spend up to £5m on commercial businesses that would fit into its strategy of selling online and calling people who get a quote online to conclude the sale.

“We’d like something that adds to our portfolio of offerings but at the same time there’s nothing to stop us buying book of business that adds to existing ones like we did with AXA’s pet book,” Richards-Smith added.

Motor makes up half of NCI’s business at the moment, with the rest evenly split between pet and breakdown cover.

NCI will launch its first home insurance policies in October, with managing general agent Axiom the lead insurer.

Richards-Smith said he would like NCI’s income to be fairly even spread across five lines of business.