11:48 am, August 12, 2020
Lockdown restrictions helped send car insurance provider Admiral’s pre-tax profits for the six months to June up by 30 per cent to £286.7m, it announced today (Aug 12).
The insurer said customers staying at home meant fewer miles were being driven, which resulted in ‘significantly lower’ claims on policies.
However, its decision to give customers a rebate of £25 per vehicle to reflect the fall in vehicle usage, as reported by Car Dealer, saw its total revenues slip by four per cent to £1.69bn for the half-year – even though customer numbers went up.
David Stevens, chief executive of the group, said: ‘Our response to the pandemic highlighted two of Admiral’s key strengths – competent execution in the short term and sustainable values for the long term.
‘We adapted quickly to the new circumstances, pirouetting from one working model to another and compressing years of learning and development into a matter of weeks through a phenomenal collective effort across the company at all levels.
‘This year’s interims benefit again from our consistently competent underwriting and conservative reserving on past years, feeding into another strong set of results in the core business and beyond.’
Meanwhile, shares in Admiral rose in early trading by 4.8 per cent to 2,646p after it also said it would be reinstating a dividend of 91.2p per share. It suspended an interim pay-out in April because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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