How is the business performing?

The last twelve months have been the most rewarding in our 18-year history. Our continued growth would not be possible without the loyal support of our brokers, underwriters and staff.

Throughout the past year, we have continued to focus on our core activities which are Casualty, Property, Motor Fleet and Professional Indemnity emanating from the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. Our business model remains simple, servicing our loyal broker base and continuing to engage daily with our partner insurers.

We are forecasting a healthy double-digit increase again in both turnover and profit for the forthcoming financial year. This is despite a challenging marketplace in which a surplus of capacity means we are still some way from ideal market conditions. The recent Ogden ruling will undoubtedly have an impact on the two largest sectors of our business, Motor and Casualty although I suspect the full impact will be more noticeable in our 2018/19 financial year.

As the company has grown, we have made the necessary corporate and regulatory advances to support that growth, these include the evolution of the risk and compliance, audit and remuneration committees, the addition of a second non-executive director and encouraging a qualified workforce. It is true to say that our culture has changed significantly during recent years.

We have always strived to be the best we can and whilst we are proud of our recent achievements we feel that we have merely laid the foundations for a period of accelerated growth. We are very well placed to use our size and good reputation as a springboard for further success. We will endeavour to improve our service and add to our product offerings as well continue to recruit like-minded individuals during the next twelve months.

Following our acquisition by the PIB group we are in the fortunate position of having a supportive Parent Company behind us, as well as benefitting from their significant influence in the marketplace. All these factors contribute to a feeling of excitement that 2018 will be even better than last year.

Richard Scott, CEO and Andy Walsh, MD