Insurer Admiral's shares hit 3-year high on record annual profit

Annual profit beats consensus by 13%

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Adds 1.4 mln new customers in 2024, taking total to 11.1 mln

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Shares up as much as 9.4%

March 6 (Reuters) -

British insurer Admiral Group reported a record annual profit on Thursday, helped by robust business at its motor insurance arm and competitive pricing, lifting shares to a three-and-half-year high.

The company reported group pre-tax profit of 839.2 million pounds ($1.08 billion) for the year ended December 2024, up 90% from a year earlier.

Admiral's annual profit also came at a 13% beat to consensus, as per Jefferies, and sent shares up as much as 9.4% to 3,174 pence, highest since September 2021.

Admiral's competitive pricing has helped it mitigate the effect of falling motor premiums. It added 1.4 million new customers in 2024, taking the total number to 11.1 million.

"The main driver of our exceptional performance was our UK Motor business," said Group CEO Milena Mondini de Focatiis, adding that its French and U.S. motor businesses reported a double-digit profit.

The company also said it is in exclusive talks to sell its U.S. insurance business Elephant, which reported a profit of 14 million pounds for 2024 against the previous year's loss of 20 million pounds.

Admiral did not provide any additional details about its plans to sell the arm.

Mondini de Focatiis praised the return to profit at Elephant, but said the turnaround had hit the company's customer base in the U.S. and Admiral needed to "think about the best future" for the unit.

Mondini de Focatiis noted that while Admiral had a strong start in 2025, forecasting remains challenging due to persistent inflation uncertainties.

Admiral also said it would pay a special dividend of 29.6 pence along with its normal dividend.