Admiral Group
| Admiral Group plc
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Public limited company |
| ISIN | GB00B02J6398 |
| founding | 1991 |
| Seat | Cardiff , UK |
| management | David Stevens ( CEO ) |
| Number of employees | > 3,000 |
| sales | £ 1.26 billion (2018) |
| Branch | insurance |
| Website | www.admiralgroup.co.uk |
The Admiral Group is a British insurance group. The company, based in the Welsh capital Cardiff , operates motor insurance for private customers as its main business area and is the third largest motor insurer in Great Britain and also operates a number of Internet comparison portals. The shares of the listed Admiral Group plc are part of the FTSE 100 share index .
history
In late 1990, Hayter Brockbank, a managing agent at Lloyd's of London , decided to develop a new source of income by setting up a company to sell motor insurance directly to private customers. He entrusted Henry Engelhardt , who then worked at Churchill Insurance and is now the CEO of Admiral, with drawing up the business plan and running the new company . At the end of June 1991, Engelhardt set up a team of five to work out the business plan in cooperation with Lloyd's of London. The business plan was implemented on April 1, 1992. According to the information from AdmiralDirekt.de , the Admiral Group plc was founded in 1990 by Henry Engelhardt and David Stevens . The two knew each other from their joint MBA studies at the INSEAD business institute in Fontainebleau, France . Real business started on January 2, 1993 in Cardiff with a workforce of 50 people.
In October 1995 the Admiral's website went online; This made Admiral the first British direct car insurer with an Internet presence. A second Admiral office opened in Swansea in June 1996 . In June 1997 two new specialty brands Bell Direct and Diamond were founded. At that time, Bell Direct targeted customers with a high no-claims bonus and customers paying by credit card; the target group was later changed to customers without a no-claims bonus. Target group of Diamond are female motorists. The Gladiator Commercial brand for commercial customers followed in April 1998 .
Under the leadership of CEO Henry Engelhardt, the Admiral Group, previously owned by Brockbank Group, which at that time became XL Capital Ltd. in Bermuda , was acquired in November 1999 through a management buy-out advised by Barclays Private Equity . In August 2000, the first British pure internet insurance for motor vehicles was established with another brand, elephant.co.uk . In March 2002, another brand was introduced with confused.com , which offers a motor vehicle insurance portal on which customers, after entering their personal characteristics, receive a comparison of the offers from several providers.
In December 2002 the Munich Reinsurance Company acquired around 18% of the shares in the Admiral Group. In September 2004 the Admiral Group went public on the London Stock Exchange . It became the highest capitalized company from Wales. In 2005, the brand was Bell Direct in Bell renamed. Expansion into other European countries began in 2006. In November 2006 Balumba.es was founded in Spain , in October 2007 AdmiralDirekt.de in Germany and in May 2008 in Italy Conte.it (based in Rome ).
In December 2007, the company's share was included in the UK FTSE 100 stock index . This made the Admiral Group the second Welsh company to ever be included in this index.
Business activity
The Admiral Group's business has shown strong growth in its relatively short history.
In terms of the number of customers, the Admiral Group reached 250,000 customers in May 1996, 500,000 customers in July 2001 and 750,000 customers in October 2003.
The group's total turnover grew accordingly: in the 1996 financial year it reached the £ 100 million mark, £ 200 million in 1999, £ 300 million in 2001 and in 2003 sales exceeded £ 400 million for the first time.
At the end of 2007 the Admiral Group had 1.491 million insured vehicles (previous year: 1.285 million). In the financial year 2007 it achieved total sales of £ 824.9 (previous year 708.2) million, of which £ 631.3 (previous year 566.6) million. Of total sales, £ 16.6 million (previous year: £ 0.6 million) were received abroad. The pre-tax profit is estimated at £ 182.1 (previous year 147.3) million. For the earnings per share ( earnings per share ) 48.6 (previous year 39.8) pence were shown in the annual report.
The Spanish subsidiary Balumba.es achieved the equivalent of £ 46.6 million in total sales in the 2007 financial year and had 47,000 customers at the end of 2007.
The subsidiary active in Germany, AdmiralDirekt.de , which was launched in October 2007 and is based in Cologne , is a direct subsidiary of EUI Limited , which in turn is controlled by Admiral Group plc. As of January 1, 2008, it achieved 9,000 new contracts in Germany with a premium income equivalent to £ 1.7 million in the year-end vehicle business. On January 1, 2011, Itzehoer Versicherung acquired AdmiralDirekt.de GmbH as a 100% direct sales subsidiary in order to pursue the further expansion of its online sales.
| Fiscal year | Sales in millions of pounds | Customers in 1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 17.5 | 50 |
| 1994 | 47.2 | 133 |
| 1995 | 72.6 | 212 |
| 1996 | 100.1 | 319 |
| 1997 | 120.2 | 342 |
| 1998 | 149.1 | 418 |
| 1999 | 207.1 | 510 |
| 2000 | 258.6 | 512 |
| 2001 | 326.2 | 608 |
| 2002 | 376.1 | 701 |
| 2003 | 427.0 | 797 |
| 2004 | 548.0 | 1.008 |
| 2005 | 638.4 | 1,141 |
| 2006 | 708.2 | 1,285 |
| 2007 | 824.9 | 1,491 |
| 2008 | 910.0 | 1,746 |
| 2009 | 1080.0 | 2,076 |
| 2010 | 1580.0 | 2,748 |
| 2011 | 2190.0 | 3,360 |
| 2012 | 2220.0 | 3,550 |
The following subsidiaries are 100% controlled by the Admiral Group plc:
- EUI Limited (formerly Admiral Insurance Services Limited)
- Able Insurance Services Limited
- Admiral Insurance Company Limited
- Admiral Syndicate Management Limited
- Admiral Syndicate Limited
- Inspop.com Limited
- Admiral Insurance, headquartered in Gibraltar
share
On September 23, 2004, the shares of Admiral Group plc went public on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The issue price was 275 pence, which means the company was valued at £ 711 million on the stock exchange. The new issue was oversubscribed. Admiral became the highest rated Welsh company on the stock exchange.
Awards, miscellaneous
In May 1999, Admiral was named Welsh Company of the Year at the Welsh Business Awards . The CEO Henry Engelhardt was awarded the Welsh Business Achiever of the Year of the Welsh Business Awards in June 2002 . From 2003 to 2007, the Admiral Group appeared annually in the Financial Times' list of 50 Best Workplaces in the UK .
As an institution for maintaining employee satisfaction, the company has a Ministry of Fun , which organizes fun events inside and outside of work for the workforce .
Web links
- Company history of AdmiralDirekt ( Memento from August 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), website of AdmiralDirekt.
- History of the Admiral Group . Web presence of the Admiral Group; there in particular the annual reports in the Investor Relations section .
- Entry at Yahoo Finance (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 1991 according to en-WP; 1990 according to AdmiralDirekt.de.
- ↑ admiralgroup.co.uk (PDF)
- ↑ See source company history of AdmiralDirekt .
- ↑ a b Annual Report 2007.
- ^ Admiral Group plc - Corporate - Our Companies. Admiralgroup.co.uk, accessed July 18, 2010 .