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(Alliance News) - BP Marsh & Partners PLC on Tuesday said investee company Walsingham Motor Insurance Ltd is faring well and is back on its original budget despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
BP Marsh & Partners invests in early stage financial services businesses such as Walsingham, a London-based managing general agency specialising in fleet insurance. Walsingham is backed by Indian government-owned insurance firm New India Assurance Co Ltd.
Walsingham, in which BP Marsh has a 40.5% direct shareholding plus additional interest of 2.3%, currently writes over GBP26 million in gross written premiums.
Of the pandemic, BP Marsh said: "Walsingham's business was impacted by Covid-19 and the lockdown restrictions. They foresaw that their taxi portfolio, which represents circa 50% of their book, would be subject to mass cancellations, and the courier portfolio would see increased vehicles and drivers. Walsingham immediately recognised the need to allow taxi policyholders flexibility in their work and allowed for food and shopping deliveries as well as various NHS support work to be undertaken without the need for policy extensions. This meant the retention of taxi fleets on the portfolio, which are once again already approaching full capacity."
Walsingham's insurance book shrank by 10% in a four-week period, as taxi drivers reacted to the lockdown. With easing restrictions since, gross written premiums have "increased significantly" and initial reductions have reversed, with the business now "back on its original budget".
With reduced road traffic, there have been "significantly reduced claims frequencies over the last four months" BP Marsh noted.
Chef Executive Garry Watson said: "At a time when many businesses within our sector are struggling to come to terms with the impact of Covid-19, Walsingham has not furloughed any staff and has been able to repay our outstanding investor loan ahead of schedule . The business has shown its trading strength during this unique period and capitalised on its core strengths; namely flexibility, organisation and planning, while utilising the excellent relationships we have built with our trading partners."
Shares in BP Marsh were up 2.2% at 233.99 pence in London on Tuesday afternoon.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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