TIDMHSTG
RNS Number : 7703U
Hastings Group Holdings plc
27 October 2017
Hastings Group Holdings plc
Trading update for the 9 months ended 30 September 2017
27 October 2017
Hastings Group Holdings plc ('the Group', or 'Hastings') today
provides an update on its trading performance for the 9 months
ended 30 September 2017.
Hastings has delivered profitable growth for the eighth
consecutive quarter since listing on the London Stock Exchange,
with increasing live customer policies, greater UK market share,
higher average written premiums and strong retail revenue.
Business highlights
* Live customer policies increased to 2.60 million as
at 30 September 2017, a 14% year on year increase
(2.29 million as at 30 September 2016).
* Market share of UK private car insurance(1) up to
7.2% as at 30 September 2017 (6.4% as at 30 September
2016).
* Gross written premiums up 25% to GBP714.3m for the 9
months ended 30 September 2017 (9 months ended 30
September 2016: GBP572.8m).
* Net revenue increased by 22% to GBP538.3m for the 9
months ended 30 September 2017 (9 months ended 30
September 2016: GBP440.3m).
Gary Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer of Hastings Group Holdings
plc, commented:
"I am delighted to announce that we have continued our strong
momentum from the half year. We now have 2.6 million live customer
polices, up 14% on last year, and gross written premiums have
increased by 25% to GBP714.3m. Whilst we have seen some short term
market pricing fluctuations following the UK Government's recent
Ogden discount rate announcement, our premium and claims inflation
have continued to show similar trends to those we reported at the
half year.
"We remain focused on our robust underwriting discipline and
continue to invest in reinforcing our digital advantage. The
continued roll out of Guidewire, our next generation broking and
digital platform, is benefitting our customers and will provide a
platform for future growth and longer term operating cost
efficiencies.
"We are on track to meet all of our 2019 targets."
Group performance update
9 months 9 months Year on Year
ended ended
30 September 30 September Growth
2017 2016
================================== ============= ============= =============
Live customer policies (million) 2.60 2.29 14%
UK Private car market share (%) 7.2% 6.4% 80 bps
Gross written premiums (GBPm) 714.3 572.8 25%
Net revenue (GBPm) 538.3 440.3 22%
================================== ============= ============= =============
Revenue growth
Increases in new business volumes and strong retention rates
have contributed to a 14% growth in live customer policies, which,
along with targeted rate increases, have resulted in a 25% year on
year increase in gross written premiums to GBP714.3m.
Net revenue has grown by 22% to GBP538.3m for the 9 months ended
30 September 2017 due to the earn through of higher average
premiums and growing retail income driven by increases in policy
numbers.
Outlook
The Group has delivered a strong trading performance in the
third quarter and the Board is pleased to confirm that Hastings is
well positioned to continue its profitable growth, and is on track
to deliver in line with all the set targets.
For more information, please contact:
Hastings Group
Richard Hoskins
Chief Financial Officer
T: +44 (0)1424 738244 ir@hastingsplc.com
Louise Underwood
Director of Investor Relations
T: +44 (0)1424 738244 ir@hastingsplc.com
Instinctif Partners
Giles Stewart
T: +44 (0)207 457 2020 hastings@instinctif.com
About Hastings
Founded in 1996 in Bexhill-on-Sea on the Sussex coast, the
Hastings Group is one of the fastest growing general insurance
providers to the UK market, with 2.6 million live customer policies
and employing over 3,000 colleagues at sites in Bexhill, Leicester,
Gibraltar and London.
Hastings provides refreshingly straightforward products and
services to UK car, bike, van and home insurance customers with
around 90% of policies directly underwritten by its Gibraltar based
insurer, Advantage Insurance Company Limited.
Hastings Direct is a trading name of Hastings Insurance Services
Limited, the Group's UK broker, which also trades via 'Hastings
Premier', 'Hastings Essential', 'Hastings Direct SmartMiles',
'People's Choice' and 'insurePink'.
The Group operates as an integrated insurance provider with two
businesses. The Group's Retail business, Hastings Insurance
Services Limited, is responsible for the end customer pricing,
fraud management product design, distribution and management of the
underlying customer relationships. The Group's Underwriting
business, Advantage Insurance Company Limited, engages in risk
selection, underlying technical pricing, reserving and claims
handling.
Retail is supported by, and benefits from, Underwriting's
prudent approach to risk and reserving and also benefits from a
panel of insurance partners who provide additional underwriting
capacity. The Group's integrated model deliberately separates
underlying product manufacturing from its distribution.
Forward-looking statements
This trading update may contain forward--looking statements
about current expectations, intentions or forecasts of future
events, including statements about market trends and our strategy,
investments, future operations, industry forecasts and regulatory
framework. Forward--looking statements include statements about
expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions
and other statements that are not statements of historical fact.
Words or phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "continue",
"ongoing", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan",
"potential", "predict", "project", "target", "seek" or similar
words or phrases, or the negatives of those words or phrases, may
identify forward--looking statements, but the absence of these
words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not
forward--looking.
Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown
risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate
assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expected or implied by the forward--looking statements.
Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated
in our forward-looking statements for many reasons, including the
factors described in the section entitled "Managing our risks" in
our 2016 Annual Report. In addition, even if our actual results are
consistent with the forward-looking statements, those results or
developments may not be indicative of results or developments in
subsequent periods.
Notes
1) UK private car market share is calculated using Hastings'
internal data for UK motor policies and information published by
the Department for Transport on the size of the UK private car
insurance market.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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