Admiral reveals rise in profits

Insurance group Admiral has announced it recorded a good rise in profits today (March 6th) in its financial results for the full year 2013.

The company revealed that in the 12-month period it recorded a seven per cent increase in its profits. The Cardiff-based firm stated that its pre-tax profits stood at £370 million in 2013, which is compared with £345 million in 2012.

Henry Engelhardt, chief executive of the company, stated that the results are "solid, but not flashy" and explained "2013 was the year of the baked potato" for the firm.

"It was a good, solid year, something on the plate that is appreciated but doesn't really grab the spotlight. This is a comfort food set of results," he said.

"Why the baked potato? Because the year was solid, but not flashy. We made more money than ever before, we grew customer numbers a little bit, we launched one new overseas business but there was no growth surge, there were no claims shocks – we just went about our business."

Turnover drop

Group turnover was revealed in the results to be down by eight per cent and was recorded at £2.03 billion compared with £2.22 billion. The company employs some 7,000 members of staff, many of whom are based in offices located in Swansea and Newport.

A final dividend of 50.6p per share has been proposed by the insurance group on the back of its latest financial results, which brings the total for the year to 99.5p per share. This is a ten per cent increase on 2012.

The share price of Admiral is slightly down this morning following the release of the results. By 08:31 GMT, its stocks were 0.59 per cent lower than at the start of the session. The share price of the firm continued to slip back over the course of the morning and was 0.66 per cent down by 09:16 GMT.

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