LONDON (Alliance News) - Hastings Group Holdings PLC on Wednesday said it is on track to meet its 2019 target as profit grew sharply in the first half of 2018.
The FTSE 250-listed insurer reported pretax profit for the six months to the end of June of GBP86.8 million, up 26% from GBP68.9 million the year before, as revenue climbed to GBP485.6 million from GBP462.0 million.
Profit rose as gross written premiums increased 5% year-on-year to GBP485.6 million from GBP462.0 million, with net earned premiums increasing to GBP219.2 million from GBP195.1 million to deliver net revenue of GBP376.3 million compared to GBP345.2 million the year before. Net claims incurred rose in line to GBP161.8 million from GBP143.3 million.
That delivered an adjusted operating profit of GBP105.1 million compared to GBP86.5 million the year before. Amortisation & depreciation expenses rose slightly year-on-year to GBP14.3 million from GBP13.5 million, while finance costs dropped to GBP4.0 million from GBP4.1 million.
Hastings said it raised its interim dividend for the first half to 4.5 pence per share from the 4.1p payout last year, reflecting the achievement of the leverage target in the period.
Hastings said live customer policies grew by 6% in the first half to GBP2.7 million compared to the year before, while its share of the UK private car insurance market improved to 7.5% at the end of June from 7.0% at the end of the same period in 2017.
The net debt leverage multiple stood at 1.1 times, improved from 1.4 times at the end of 2017, as free cashflow rose to GBP107.8 million in the first half compared to GBP65.8 million the year before.
"I am pleased to announce a strong set of results for the first half of 2018 that has seen us grow our customer numbers to 2.7 million," said Chief Executive Toby van der Meer.
"We remain excited about the future - a fast moving and increasingly digital landscape plays to our strengths," Toby van der Meer continued. "We remain on track to meet all our 2019 targets."
Shares in Hastings were down 0.3% early on Wednesday at 242.80p each.
