Admiral delivers record interim dividend
One of Wales’ top companies, Admiral posted record interim results recently, with a bumper dividend for shareholders.
The Cardiff-headquartered company is continuing to drive impressive revenue and profit growth against the wider malaise in the UK motor insurance industry.
For the first six months of this year Admiral posted profits before tax of £105.3m, up 5% on 2008 – coming in slightly above market expectations.
Its turnover rose 17% to £540.1m, while its board announced a record interim dividend payment of 27.7p per share – which includes a special dividend of 14.9p.
On the overall results, Mr Engelhardt CEO, said: “Considering the general economic climate and pathetic investment returns, this was an outstanding result. Once again, I’m happy to announce an all-time record for profits; that the business continued its strong growth; and that we will soon pay a record dividend.
“Key to our success was the great result turned in by the UK car insurance business. We increased the number of customers by 147% by giving a combination of competitive prices and great service.”
Subject to regulatory approval, Admiral could launch its US operation in Virginia by the end of the year, which will trade as Elephant. And following the setting up of its price comparison site in Spain (Rastreator) – based on the model of its UK subsidiary Confused.com – it is working on expansion into Italy and France.
