Car insurance to loan group Admiral has upgraded expected profit before tax for the first half of 2021 to the range of £450m to £500m.
The FTSE 100 firm, which is headquartered in Cardiff and employs 7,000 in South Wales, said, the stronger result is due to unusually positive development in the cost of UK motor bodily injury claims from a number of prior underwriting years which has led to higher reserve releases and profit commission revenue.
It added that motor claims frequency in 2021 to date has been lower than expected due to extended lockdown restrictions resulting in a favourable current period loss ratio, despite the significant reductions in Admiral’s premium rates over the past twelve months, which followed the £110m of premium refunded to customers in May 2020.
The proposed interim dividend to shareholders expected to be in the range of 110p to 125o per share.
It is not currently expected that the level of reserve releases and profit commission for the first half of 2021 will be repeated in the second half.
The £460m sale of the Penguin Portals comparison businesses, including Cardiff-based Confused.com was completed at the end of April. Admiral expects to return £400m to shareholder sin the form of special dividends phased over 2021 and 2022.
Admiral will publish its 2021 half year results on August 11th.
