5th Mar 2020 08:14
(Alliance News) - David Stevens is to retire as chief executive of Admiral Group PLC, the motor insurer said Thursday, as it reported a "record" annual profit.
Stevens, a co-founder of Admiral in 1991, has been CEO since May 2016. He will retire from the role and as a director in 12 months' time.
Admiral has decided to replace him with Milena Mondini de Focatiis, the current head of Admiral's UK & European Insurance business. She will assume the role of CEO after the transition period.
Mondini de Focatiis first joined Cardiff-based Admiral in 2007 but has only been in her current position since July last year.
"It is hard to sum up the amazing contribution David has made to the group over the last 27 years. As one of the founders he has overseen the business grow from a standing start to become one of the UK's largest motor insurers, employing over 10,000 people, serving seven million customers and with a market value today of over GBP6 billion," commented Chair Annette Court.
"Having been through a comprehensive and robust succession process, the board is confident that in Milena we have a natural successor and a leader for the next generation. We have a wealth of management talent at Admiral and bringing this through has always been a central pillar to Admiral's management philosophy as the business evolves alongside its customers.
"Milena brings a deep appreciation of the special Admiral culture, entrepreneurial spirit, commercial track record and people development skills," Court added.
Turning to 2019 financial results, Admiral posted a pretax profit for the year of GBP522.6 million, which it said is a record. This is 10% higher than 2018, and meets guidance given by Admiral in February of between GBP510 million and GBP540 million of pretax profit.
Insurance premium revenue increased by 5.8% to GBP2.20 billion, with Admiral's net insurance premium revenue up 5.6% to GBP709.4 million. Net revenue rose 7.1% to GBP1.35 billion.
Admiral's customer numbers increased by 7% to just under 7 million, while UK insurance numbers rose 4% to 5.5 million and international customers climbed by 16% to 1.4 million.
Admiral is paying a 77.0 pence per share final dividend, which includes a 20.7p special dividend. The year's total is 140.0p, up 11% from the year before.
The company's return on equity was 52%, down from 56%, with the Solvency ratio post-dividend 190% from 194%.
Outgoing CEO Stevens said it was the first time pretax profit has topped GBP500 million, saying it was "another freight train year" for the company.
"This strong performance was due to contributions from businesses across the group. Particularly of note was UK Insurance (motor, household, travel), European insurance and Confused.com. Our Loans business continues to develop well and we continue to build this business with our usual cautious approach," he continued.
"We have encountered more challenges in the US, so we still continue to strengthen fundamentals there."
Chair Court added: "I am delighted to report another year of record profit in 2019 and a strong set of results."
Shares were 0.9% higher on Thursday morning in London at a price of 2,201.00 pence each.
By George Collard; [email protected]
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