Admiral posts a 26% increase in profit as Covid-19 leads to fewer claims

British motor and home insurer Admiral posted a 26 per cent increase in profit for 2021, as the Covid-19 pandemic helped cash flow with fewer claims.   

Group profit before tax from continuing operations was £769 million, while turnover increased by 4 per cent to £3.5billion.

The Cardiff-headquartered company grew its customer base by 9 per cent in the same period, with 8.36 million subscribers. 

British motor and home insurer Admiral has posted a 26% increase in profit in 2021, with the Covid-19 pandemic helping cash flow with fewer claims 

Admiral said it would pay a final dividend of 118 pence per share, including a special dividend of 75.8 pence, and full-year dividend of 187 pence.  

Shareholders will receive their dividend payouts on 6 June. 

Motor and home insurers have benefited from the pandemic as fewer cars on the roads and more people working from home have led to lower claims.

In charge: Admiral’s boss, Milena Mondini de Focatiis

Touching on some of the company’s key product offerings, chief executive Milena Mondini de Focatiis said: ‘The strong performance of UK Motor insurance is the key driver of our results. We also continued to expand our customer proposition. 

‘In 2021 alone, beyond UK Motor we added more than half a million customers, now representing around 40% of total group customers. 

‘We grew by double digits in both our UK Household and International businesses, despite challenging market conditions abroad, and our loans stock balance is now larger than pre-Covid levels. 

‘We are pleased to see the results of our ability to export some of our competitive advantages to these new businesses and we are also planting seeds for further diversification in the longer term through Admiral Pioneer, for example with small business insurance.’ 

The insurance boss said that machine learning had also enabled the company to offer customers ‘good value’ products without hurting its loss ratios.

The company praised Ms Mondini de Focatiis for her ‘strong leadership’ after taking over as group CEO in January.   

In a statement the firm noted: ‘She has further built a high-performing team which continues to take the business from strength to strength, building on Admiral’s solid foundations and maintaining the key ingredients that make Admiral different. 

‘We remain focused on continuously strengthening our core competences while creating sustainable businesses for the future.’