Watchstone Group is a holding company with technology at its core.

Our businesses offer leading technology solutions primarily to the insurance, automotive and healthcare industries.

While we have a diverse portfolio, our operating businesses are unified by a set of shared commercial principles:

■We seek to anticipate change and we have the agility to exploit the dynamism of customer behaviour
■We invest in the people and technologies that will drive innovation and success in our markets
■We promote in-depth sector knowledge and experience as the starting point of value creation, and
■We strive for efficiency across our businesses through the optimal allocation of resources and good governance

                   

NEWS

26th Jan 2018 Pre-close trading update
11th May 2017 Prospective claim by Slater and Gordon
05th May 2017 Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016
27th Apr 2017 Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2016

VIDEO/AUDIO/PRESENTATIONS

May 2017 2016 Annual Report and Accounts
Jun 2016 Presentation-Results for the six months ended 30 June 2016
27th May Watchstone Audio Webcast-Financial Results
27th Jan Watchstone Group Outline Strategy

EVENTS

The 2017 Commercial Vehicle Show (CV Show)25th-27th April -UK (Hubio)
The Strategic Claims conference2nd March-UK (Hubio)
2017 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference28th February-Canada (Hubio)
NRF's Annual Convention & EXPO (Retail's BIG Show)15th-17th January-USA (Tech Mahindra-Bronze sponsors/exhibitor)
2017 Commercial Vehicle Show25th-27th April-UK (Hubio Fleet-exhibitor)

WEBSITES




LINKS TO DEDICATED PAGES

pt Health
ingenie Updated 2nd June
Innocare Updated 2nd June

How portal adoption can accelerate your digital strategy #ICTC2017

Agent and Broker Portals are critical components in P&C insurers’ digital strategy. As insurers work to provide an enhanced digital experience across the entire distribution management life cycle, portals are at the centre of the experience.

While almost every insurer has an agent portal in place, we are seeing a rise in modernization as they now seek to replace and upgrade first generation technology that provided only a partial solution to their needs. As noted in EY’s whitepaper entitled Beyond the Agency Portal, “Agent portals have become a hot technology in P&C insurance circles after years of relative neglect.”

At the upcoming 2017 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference on February 28th, Hubio’s Phil Henville, the Head of Canadian Operations, will speak on the topic in “What Lessons Can Broker-Based Insurers Draw From Direct Carriers?”. One of the key lessons pertains to the direct writer’s creation of a superior digital experience, anchored by a portal that responds to the needs of brokers, policyholders, and potential new customers.

What lessons can we learn from direct carriers?

In the North American market, independent agents and brokers have seen their market share steadily decrease over the past 20+ years as direct writers have invested heavily in their digital presence, and grown their market share.  Phil will expand on what are they doing right, and how insurers with an independent  broker or agent distribution channel can use technology to compete. He will explore how direct writers have created effective business processes that engage prospects, provide policyholders superior service, and offer the right policies to the right people at the right time and price.

Improve your digital experience

Digital insurance leaders are providing the broker channel with choices that fit with how producers, and CSR’s want to interact with them. This includes technology to handle uploads and downloads from their systems; the creation of staging and viewing areas for review and edit; and a user interface that is user-friendly, easily processed, refined and enhanced.

Our team will be exhibiting at the conference, ready to learn and discuss the importance of new portal technology. Come stop by and discover how Hubio is developing the next generation solution to deliver speed, integration, and an easy-to-use solution.

More than 70% of insurers are replacing or upgrading their portals in order to improve the ease of doing business for an agent [1] – stay ahead, speak to Hubio.

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5501004

Hubio will chair the Strategic Claims Panel at next week’s (this week's) Strategic Claims Conference

Our focus on building a digital, data-led future and technologies for the insurance sector means that The Strategic Claims conference is an event not to be missed for Hubio this year. Hubio is bringing new levels of data-driven insights to the insurance industry challenging and redefining established business models.

The conference will spark the debate on the challenge of developing an effective claims strategy which is becoming ever more complex – digital technologies and changing customer expectations have rapidly changed the insurance landscape whilst the pressure to reduce claims costs has intensified.

Neil Thomson, Strategic Sales Director at Hubio, will be chairing the Core Claims Systems session which will discuss that as technology and ‘digital’ continue to drive rapid changes, the question of what you do with claims legacy systems becomes ever more critical.  The panel examines the options, evaluates different approaches and aims to agree best practice for core system modernisation.

We will have exclusively available the pre-release Celent paper ‘The need for a Modern System’ authored by Craig Beattie, Senior Insurance Analyst. Our team will be able to demonstrate what a truly digital claims experience looks like, visit our stand.

The conference takes place on 2nd March at Etc. Venues, Fenchurch Place, London EC3M 4PB.

For more information on the programme and scope of the event, visit Strategic Claims website

Is this stock worth all this attention Banjo .

Hope so..........

“Insurers doing nothing with legacy claims systems is not an option” at Strategic Claims

“The insurance industry has an energy about it never experienced before” is how our team reflected upon last Thursday’s Strategic Claims Conference. It appears that there is a real appetite to change. As one speaker succinctly put it, legacy systems are around 18 years old; they were built to be robust and not for change.

Sarah Grayston, Head of Claims Transformation, RSA then summed it up perfectly by emphatically stating; “insurers doing nothing with legacy claims systems is not an option.”

The challenge for IT and Innovation departments is grappling with the emerging trends that this energy is creating, but having to work with existing systems to achieve the change without impacting day to day business, increasing costs or reducing staff morale.

The New Modern System

Working with Craig Beattie, Senior Insurance Analyst at IT specialist Research and Consultancy Practice Celent, we launched our Pre-Release Report – The Case for the New Modern System with the Conference delegates.

The report provides a case of there being several key trends impacting the insurance industry, to name just a few:

•How key trends such as the rise of the Internet of Things, the rise of AI and new ways of assembling software must drive changes in how insurers assemble their architecture?
•What new problems do these architectures solve and what old problems are solved in new ways?
•How is this new approach relevant to insurers now?
•More importantly, how does an insurer move in this direction?



The challenge of developing an effective claims strategy is becoming ever more complex – digital technologies and changing customer expectations have rapidly changed the insurance landscape whilst the pressure to reduce claims costs has intensified.

It draws the conclusion that now is the time for it to distinguish between its legacy technology architecture and look to create a new modern system, capable of rising to these new business challenges.

We at Hubio Enterprise Insurance understand this journey and are evolving our strategy and solution development to align with these constantly changing policy and claims environments. Our Hubio ICE Policy and ICE Claims suite fully supports the customer journey through every touchpoint, web, mobile and text, enabling insurers to fully engage with customers in the way they want to, increasing customer satisfaction and retention.

If you did not pick up a copy of our Pre-Release Report at Strategic Claims, we can send you an electronic version – email ann.smith@hubio.com in the first instance.

ingenie publishes 2017 Young Driver Report
March 2017/in Company News



Young driver insurance brand, ingenie, has released its 2017 Young Driver Report exploring the real world of 17 to 25-year-old drivers. Comprising ingenie’s telematics data, industry figures and opinions from the thousands-strong ingenie community, it covers topics ranging from crash rates to drug driving as well as the rising cost of motor insurance for young drivers in the UK.

The report comments on distracted driving, as the new driving laws with tougher penalties for drivers caught using their mobile phones came into force on 1 March. ingenie notes in the report, “Unfortunately, for young drivers, distraction is even more of a big deal. Young drivers don’t have a fully developed hazard perception centre in their brain until around 25, so newer drivers have to be actively concentrating at all times.”

A few interesting findings:

•ingenie’s average premium for a 17-year-old is £1,443 compared to an industry average of £2,112

•52% of young respondents said they either had a black box policy or were considering it

•58% of ingenie’s Twitter following said they never use their phone in the car

•The driving test pass rate is 50% and each retake adds a minimum of £206 to the cost of learning

•52% of young drivers told ingenie they thought they’d be fine to drive the day after smoking cannabis

•47% of ingenie’s survey respondents said they consider their parents as best friends

For the full analysis, read ingenie’s report. You can also find it for download on iTunes.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their holding:

2,324,492 to 2,777,918 (6.03%)

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5517938

23 March 2017
 
Watchstone Group Plc
 
("Watchstone" or the "Company")
 
Director declaration
 
The Company announces in accordance with AIM Rule 17 of the AIM Rules for Companies, that it has been informed today by Richard Rose, the Non-Executive Chairman of the Company, that Blue Inc (UK) Limited, a private company of which Mr Rose is a director, entered into a company voluntary arrangement on 22 March 2017.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5517929
 

On the changing face of the insurance industry, with Celent

The insurance industry is evolving at a fast pace in the wake of challenges and opportunities put forward by changing customer demands, compliance requirements, proliferation of digital devices, enhanced connectivity, and others.

Hubio held an interview with Craig Beattie – Celent’s Senior Insurance Analyst – and created an exclusive report on the Case for a New Modern System.

The report addresses the key insurance technology questions:

•What key trends are driving digital insurance?

•How are these manifesting in insurance?

•What does this mean to the business case?

The Case for a New Modern System

In this report, Celent makes the case that there are seven trends impacting the insurance industry that both enable, and drive the need for, a new modern system at the heart of an insurer. Here we distinguish a new modern system from those that emerged over a decade ago.



These trends are enabling new propositions in the industry such as IoT enabled products, as well as new solutions to old problems with adaptive systems responding to partners and customers changing needs.

These new possibilities and capabilities require some thought to be given to the business case. The benefits covered in a similar report conducted by Celent, nearly 10 years ago (2008) still stand but new sources of benefits are presented making the case for a new modern system.

Celent describes the key differences between a modern system and a new modern system as capabilities in new delivery of the systems as well as the ability to incorporate small or micro-integrations with new services, new automatics techniques and new data.

Hubio Enterprise Insurance suite has the power of next-generation processing that digitises the way claims and policies are handled. Hubio can enable organisations to increase strategic capability, flex propositions to meet market demands and significantly reduce costs.

BAS Energy – Proud Supporter of Vertas Making the Difference Staff Awards 2017
March 2017



BAS Energy, having developed a partnership with Vertas Global Limited last year, were delighted to celebrate Verta’s Making the Difference Staff Awards 2017 this month. Our partnership began after securing the contract to manage the entire energy (electricity and gas) portfolio for Suffolk Country Council’s procurement framework for a minimum of 3 years last September. We continue to work closely with Vertas and were thrilled to join them in their celebration to honour the commitment and excellence of Vertas employees.

The award ceremony which was held at the Sir Bobby Robson Suite at Ipswich Town Football Club, was attended by 160 guests. We would like to congratulate all of the 2017 winners, including Jenny Love who won the Customer 1st award which was proudly sponsored by BAS Energy. Commenting on the Award, Andy Blake, BAS Energy’s Commercial Director said, “What makes these awards so special is that they reward the Staff members for their focus on positive customer experiences, which is embedded in the ethos at BAS Energy.”

Ian Surtees, Vertas Group Limited’s Chief Executive Officer commented, “Customers are our life blood. This award recognises a member of our Vertas team that has provided exceptional customer and/or client service over a sustained period of time and who has demonstrated a ‘customer first’ culture.”

“I’m delighted that our second Making the Difference Staff Awards ceremony was a huge success. My congratulations go to the winners and finalists of 2017.”

“This event provided the opportunity for us to recognise and celebrate our colleagues who consistently demonstrate excellent business practices and provide quality customer service within their role. These individuals strive to go above and beyond to ensure that their clients and customers have truly positive experiences with us.”

To see the full list of winners and to find out more information about the awards ceremony, visit https://www.vertas.co.uk/awards.

For more information about BAS Energy, please visit www.bas-energy.co.uk.

Link to historic 'Shareholder information'

Shareholder information

The directors have been notified, or are aware of the following interests in the issued share capital of the company in respect of the shareholdings, and related holding percentages, of the following significant shareholders and directors of Watchstone Group plc as at 13 March 2017.

Major shareholder information

Name--------------------------------------------No. of Shares-------------------% Holding

Beach Point Capital Management LLP-----------6,435,425----------------------13.98%
Sand Grove Capital Management LLP-----------3,471,638-----------------------7.54%
M&G Investments (Prudential)-------------------2,916,666-----------------------6.34%
Dialectic Capital Management LP----------------2,307,438-----------------------5.01%


Subtotal------------------------------------------17,451,107----------------------37.91%

Director information

Name---------------------------------------No. of Shares-------------------% Holding

Richard Rose--------------------------------100,000--------------------------0.22%
Indro Mukerjee-------------------------------50,550--------------------------0.11%
Mark Williams---------------------------------50,550--------------------------0.11%
Lord Howard of Lympne----------------------12,608-------------------------0.03%
David Currie-------------------------------------1950--------------------less than 0.01%

Subtotal---------------------------------------215,658-------------------less than 0.47%

Current total shares in issue 46,038,333 as at 13 March 2017 with none being held as treasury and 1.97% being held “not in public hands” i.e. held by directors, directors of subsidiaries, trustees of employee share schemes / pension funds or any other substantial shareholders (>10%).
http://www.watchstonegroup.com/investors/shareholder-information/

Business benefits of Hubio Fleet to come under focus at CV Show
By Natalie Middleton / 2 days ago /

Telematics specialist Hubio Fleet is to provide an insight at the CV Show into how telematics can provide fleets with a safer and more efficient way to monitor their drivers.

Hubio Fleet is aimed at both SMEs to large corporate firms with hundreds of fleet vehicles and provides two trackers: an OBD plugin that plugs directly into a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics port (OBD port) and a larger black box that is professionally fitted and hidden out of sight.

Data from both devices is transmitted over the mobile phone network and users can then see exactly where their drivers are in real-time using a dashboard accessed through any web-enabled device with a username and password.

The Hubio stand at the CV Show will provide continual live demonstrations of Hubio Fleet and visitors will be able to find out how the platform can be used to monitor driver behaviour, draw geofences and create fleet reports. As a result, fleets can monitor instances of speeding, hard acceleration, cornering and braking not only to save money but also to educate drivers to improve their driving behaviour.

CV Show visitors can also make one-to-one bookings at www.hubiofleet.com/cv-show-2017.

Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company Goes Live with eDocs with Hubio, Obtaining CSIO Certification for Personal and Commercial Lines
April 2017/in Company News


Hubio, a provider of technology solutions for P&C insurers, is pleased to announce that Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company has obtained CSIO Certification for both Personal and Commercial Lines eDocs. They are now able to download Personal and Commercial Lines electronic documents to multiple broker management systems including Applied TAM/EPIC, Keal, CIMData, CSSI The Broker Workstation and PowerBroker.

Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company provides commercial, farm, personal property and liability insurance, as well as excess auto insurance. Exclusively broker-based, they have invested in a download solution in order to assist brokers in managing their customers’ needs. Now that CSIO has provided certification for Personal and Commercial Lines, Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company is now able to offer brokers eDoc capabilities across all their lines of business.

Laura Wiebe, President of Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company stated, “Over the past several years we have been making major investments to upgrade our technology, and promote broker ease-of-doing-business. We completed the upgrade to our enterprise system and now are able to deliver solutions to help our broker partners compete. eDocs download represents one element of our investment, and we are planning further efforts to ensure we remain competitive.”

Matina Kipouros, Vice President Underwriting & Marketing at Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company added, “Our team was able to take eDocs live quickly, and we are pleased with the effort from Hubio. They are a leader in broker connectivity technology, and we are very happy with the solution.”

The eDocs download meets CSIO standards and is CSIO certified. Catherine Smola, President & CEO at CSIO commented, “I am very pleased that Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company has successfully implemented an eDocs solution that follows CSIO standards, and provides eDocs for both Personal and Commercial lines of business.”

Hubio technology is in use in many eDocs projects across Canada. Hubio technology connects brokers with insurers to improve competitiveness, enhance policyholder satisfaction, and gain overall efficiencies.



About Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company

Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company is a federally licensed insurer operating successfully in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Head Office is located in Saskatoon, with service offices in Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg. As a mutual property and casualty company, Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance is owned by its policyholders and its profits are reinvested to help keep premium rates low. The Company has remained successful over the years and has never lost sight of its primary objective set out in 1908 – to provide the best service it possibly could to its policyholders.

http://www.watchstonegroup.com/saskatchewan-mutual-insurance-company-goes-live-edocs-hubio/

Hearing Excellence Newest InnoCare Client
April 13, 2017 By: Kerrie-Ann Bernard

Hamilton, ON April 12, 2017-- InnoCare Ltd. announces a new partnership in the audiology industry. They have partnered with Hearing Excellence, a leader in the hearing test, hearing aid, and tinnitus management market. InnoCare now offers Connect, call answering service, to all six Hearing Excellence locations across the Greater Toronto Area.

Hearing Excellence offers a mix of hearing solutions, including the highest quality hearing aids from all leading manufacturers, assistive listening devices, ear and wax hygiene products, ear and noise protection products.

InnoCare Connect utilizes live agents specially trained to take calls from the medical sector. In addition, to call answering, the Connect service also includes direct booking, a secure online portal to retrieve messages, and extensive data.

InnoCare Connect is but another element of the excellent customer care Hearing Excellence offers each and every client. InnoCare is delighted to be working with Hearing Excellence to provide top-quality patient experiences. CEO Heather Shantora notes that “At InnoCare, we believe that the patient comes first. This expansion into the audiology industry is an exciting step for InnoCare as we continue to expand our capabilities across new healthcare sectors. Through our partnership with Hearing Excellence, InnoCare Connect will empower patients to take control of their care from their homes, at a time that suits their schedule.”

 
About Hearing Excellence

Founded by Sharad and Vineeta Ojha, Hearing Excellence is considered among the best in the audiology industry. All six locations have experienced clinicians on staff that offer expert knowledge on products and provide industry-leading care. In addition to products, Hearing Excellence offers expert services such as hearing tests and assessments, hearing aid care and repair, tinnitus management, earwax management, aural rehab, and more.

16:54 Watchstone Group PLC (WTG) - Holding(s) in Company-RNS

Polygon Global Partners LLP
Reade Eugene Griffith

Have taken a position 2,356,709 (5.119%)

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5534690

Very interesting and informative interview with InnoCare CEO Heather Shantora

Interview: InnoCare CEO on Business News Network

April 2017/in Company News

InnoCare CEO Heather Shantora appeared live on Business News Network’s (BNN) Business Day AM, with co-hosts Amber Kanwar and Jon Erlichman.

As a Canadian healthcare market leader focused on the development of innovative technology, InnoCare provides propriety cloud-based practice management software and back office administrative support services to optimise clinic operations.

In the interview, Heather highlighted the inefficiencies in the delivery of healthcare in Canada and the role of technology in reducing the administrative burden on clinicians and improving access to care for patients. Heather also discussed the features of InnoCare’s newest digital charting app, focusing on its most innovative and market defining feature; insurance form auto-population.

Watch the full interview:

http://www.watchstonegroup.com/interview-innocare-ceo-business-news-network/

Dialectic Offshore, Ltd. reduced their holding dropping below 5%, this was reached
10th March 2017 but only announced today! lol

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5534827

Link to historic 'Shareholder information'

Shareholder information

The directors have been notified, or are aware of the following interests in the issued share capital of the company in respect of the shareholdings, and related holding percentages, of the following significant shareholders and directors of Watchstone Group plc as at 20 April 2017
.
Major shareholder information

Name--------------------------------------------No. of Shares-------------------% Holding

Beach Point Capital Management LLP-----------6,435,425----------------------13.98%
Sand Grove Capital Management LLP-----------3,471,638-----------------------7.54%
M&G Investments (Prudential)-------------------2,916,666-----------------------6.34%
Polygon Global Partners LLP----------------------2,356,709----------------------5.12%
BlueMountain Capital Management, LLC---------2,319,940----------------------5.04%
Dialectic Capital Management LP----------------2,307,438-----------------------5.01%


Subtotal------------------------------------------19,807,816----------------------43.02%

Director information

Name---------------------------------------No. of Shares-------------------% Holding

Richard Rose--------------------------------100,000--------------------------0.22%
Indro Mukerjee-------------------------------50,550--------------------------0.11%
Mark Williams---------------------------------50,550--------------------------0.11%
Lord Howard of Lympne----------------------12,608-------------------------0.03%
David Currie-------------------------------------1950--------------------less than 0.01%

Subtotal---------------------------------------215,658-------------------less than 0.47%

Current total shares in issue 46,038,333 as at 20 April 2017 with none being held as treasury and 1.97% being held “not in public hands” i.e. held by directors, directors of subsidiaries, trustees of employee share schemes / pension funds or any other substantial shareholders (>10%).

http://www.watchstonegroup.com/investors/shareholder-information/

Hubio Fleet announces new upgrades to vehicle tracking platform
April 2017/in Company News



Unveiling at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC, Birmingham this week, Hubio Fleet showcases the addition of an integrated 3G camera, CAN Bus technology and mobile app to their offering. As well as fuel savings and measuring driver behaviour, fleet managers can now take advantage of real-time crash and incident notification, simplifying the insurance claims process.

The new 3G camera enables fleet manager and operators to watch video footage within minutes of a driving incident occurring, allowing immediate claim intervention with first notification of loss (FNOL), helping to minimise claims and protect drivers.

In addition, Hubio Fleet has also introduced a mobile phone app that both fleet managers and drivers can use. The app gives fleet managers full visibility of their vehicles and drivers from anywhere with mobile signal. Meanwhile the driver version of the app allows drivers to monitor themselves, giving them the opportunity to improve their driving performance without needing direct intervention from the fleet manager.

Hubio Fleet’s General Manager Russell Olive says:
“We have worked hard to significantly enhance and add features that we think will dramatically benefit fleet managers.

The addition of the camera not only helps understand driving incidents, but the footage can also be used in conjunction with harsh driving alerts allowing fleet managers to coach drivers that are putting the fleet at risk.

Add to that the powerful reporting insights and the option of the CAN Bus Black Box and fleet managers really do now have a powerful and easy-to-use way of getting the best from their fleets and their drivers.”

Hubio Fleet is exhibiting at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC from 25th – 27th April 2017.

For more information about Hubio Fleet, please visit www.hubiofleet.com