Prime Professions’ accounts circulated to clients and underwriters.
Prime Profession’s chief executive Tony Blyfield has hit out at attempts to discredit the company by circulating its accounts to clients and underwriters.
Blyfield claims that a broker has been sending Prime Profession’s accounts for its first year of trading to underwriters and clients.
The accounts show a pre-tax loss of £8.1m against a turnover of nearly £2m for the 15-month period ended 31 March 2007.
The result was significantly impacted by the cost of settling a legal dispute with Blyfield’s former employer Alexander Forbes, since acquired by Lockton International. There is no suggestion that Lockton or employees of Lockton have been involved in any way in circulating Prime’s accounts.
Blyfield said: “Desperate people resort to desperate measures. They should invest their energy in developing their own business.”
He accepted that Prime’s accounts were in the public domain, but said: “The fact that our competition feels the need to distribute our financial accounts for a period commencing
1 January 2006 is quite amazing. On the basis that we hadn’t even started trading at that point in time, it makes you wonder if these clients and underwriters feel somewhat patronised.”
The dispute with Forbes centred on the departure in 2005 of Blyfield and 23 others from Forbes’ professions division to form Prime Professions. Forbes subsequently took legal action relating to alleged breaches of restraint of trade agreements, which were denied. The matter was later settled.
Prime Profession, which is backed by Primary Group, has now completed its second year of trading and is expected to report income of around £6m and an operating profit of over £250,000, according to Blyfield. Gross written premium (GWP) controlled will be around £50m.
“This has been our first unencumbered trading year,” he said. “We are attracting a mixture of old and new clients.”
Prime Professions specialises in placing professional indemnity (PI) insurance. Half of its business relates to solicitors’ PI.
Blyfield said that over the next two years the company would look to target the top 20 law firms. Prime will also look to develop its international business.
The company is targeting GWP of £80m by the end of next financial year.
