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

Launching our telematics tracking platform for fleet

Hubio Fleet has been developed working with existing Road Angel Fleet customers to produce a simple, low-cost vehicle tracking solution built on our proven telematics platform. The Hubio Fleet Manager platform is designed to improve driving behaviour, lower the cost of fleet operation, increase productivity and minimise vehicle wear and tear.

Safety is at the forefront of our values and we believe that educating drivers on how to improve their driving style should be simple, non-intrusive and effective. Our driving analytics have been tested and perfected from our experience in insurance to deliver real change so that we can truly improve driver behaviour, one driver at a time.

Hubio Fleet’s reliable vehicle tracking system offers simplicity from day one – an easy plug-and-play OBD device and a simple-to-use interface. Our excellent service and support team are on hand so that fleet managers can immediately unlock the value of live tracking at the best price on the market.

Addressing the needs of the commercial vehicle market

Our Chief Technology Officer for Connected Car, Andrew Betteley spoke directly to fleet managers and owner-operators prior to developing Hubio Fleet. He discovered they were looking for; an easy way to order the unit, a prompt supply, excellent service and a simple-to-use interface. He commented: “With Hubio Fleet, we have addressed all of these issues and have a fleet tracking system that allows fleet managers and owner-operators to truly find ways of operating more efficiently.”


Hubio Fleet is aimed at both small business owners who run a number of cars or vans as well as larger firms with hundreds of vehicles on their books. Two tracking devices are on offer from Hubio Fleet – an OBD plugin that is plugged directly into a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics port (OBD port) by the user and a black box that is professionally fitted and located out of sight.

A fleet manager or owner-operator can see at a glance how ‘safely’ their fleet is performing by looking at a traffic-light-coloured Fleet Safety indicator. As a result of monitoring speed, harsh braking, cornering, and acceleration, a company can benefit from fewer accidents, lower maintenance costs and fuel savings of up to 15%.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Louise Robertson explains: “Ultimately, fleet managers are looking for real-time tracking to improve efficiency and lower their operating costs. Our simple online dashboard, which can be accessed from any web-enabled device, moves the industry closer to changing the perception of fleet management software to a service that is easy to use and fast to implement.”

Watch the video below to get a full overview of how Hubio Fleet works:



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Hubio Insurance ‏@hubioinsurance 47 minutes ago

COO of @ERSmotor, @TimYorke has been named Tech Champion of the year at @InsuranceTimes_ #ITTechAwards Congrats Tim!

https://twitter.com/hashtag/ITTechAwards?src=hash

Business Advisory Service shortlisted for Third Party Intermediary of the Year in the 2016 Energy Awards

September 26, 2016

Business Advisory Service, one of the UK’s leading independent Energy Consultancies, has been shortlisted for the Energy Awards 2016 in the ‘Third Party Intermediary of the Year’ category.

In the last 12 months, Business Advisory Service has experienced success in securing competitive energy contracts on behalf of UK businesses.  Its unique energy management platform, OpenView and strong customer support have helped it win more customers which has fuelled growth for the company.

In announcing Business Advisory Service as a finalist, the organisers congratulated the company’s success within this hotly contested sector.

Commenting on the announcement, Chris Shaw, CEO of Business Advisory Service, said “The Energy Awards are recognised within the industry as being one of the most coveted in the UK. To be a finalist is not just an honour, but a recognition of the dedication, investment and commitment Business Advisory Service has made to delivering first class energy consultancy services to UK businesses.”

To find out more about BAS, please visit www.businessadvisoryservice.co.uk

WTG news now showing on Stockwatch!

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

Deutsche Bank AG sold resulting in a holding of less than 3% from about 7%

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5365967

General interest:

Charting is on its way!
October 12, 2016 | Software | By: Kerrie-Ann Bernard

The biggest thing since InnoCare Software is on its way--Charting! 

Beautiful, intuitive, and designed just for you; InnoCare Charting is a breath of fresh air. Whether you're a physiotherapist, chiropractor, or massage therapist, InnoCare Charting is designed just for you. 

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter and stay tuned for more details!

Hubio Insurance ‏@hubioinsurance 13 hours ago

We're looking forward to the digital #insurance event of the year! We'll be there with our partner @Tech_mahindra #Wakeupinsurance

https://twitter.com/hashtag/wakeupinsurance?src=hash

Hubio is attending Guidewire Connections 2016


Having recently joined the Guidewire PartnerConnect program, we are excited to be attending our first Guidewire User Conference – Connections 2016 in San Francisco on October 24th-27th.

The conference brings together insurance companies who use Guidewire applications as well as representatives from technology suppliers such as Hubio, who provide solutions that complement and enhance the Guidewire core offerings.

Faster, smarter, easier for insurance carriers

This partnership enables Guidewire and Hubio to work together in two distinct areas:

The first addresses insurance carriers’ needs to complete their regulatory filing requirements using a pre-built accelerator integrating Guidewire PolicyCenter and ClaimCenter with Hubio’s reporting solution.

The second enables carriers to deploy Hubio’s award-winning telematics program through the development of a pre-built accelerator to integrate Hubio’s UBI solution with Guidewire PolicyCenter.

Integrating core insurance systems with the outside world is one of Hubio’s strengths, and we’re excited to be able to help Guidewire customers in North America develop faster, cost-effective, more complete solutions. We’re developing pre-built accelerators that will take Hubio’s proven technology and integrate it with Guidewire, to give insurance customers a tried and tested solution.

The first accelerator will provide measurable improvements to previous practices, and deliver insurers higher degrees of accuracy, completeness and reliability. As the accelerator is pre-built, and vetted by both Guidewire and Hubio, customers can rest easy that it delivers exactly as promised.

Talk to us at Guidewire Connections 2016

Phil Henville, who heads our Hubio Canada Group, and David Gallagher of our sales team, will be attending the conference. Why not get in touch and schedule a meeting? We’d love to talk to you about growth opportunities with this partnership and how we can make your life easier!

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

BEACH POINT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP increased their holding on 28 OCTOBER 2016 from 5,506,978 to 5,541,978 (12.04%)

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5441010

    

How can Hubio help Guidewire Customers?

As a new Guidewire Solutions partner, we recently attended the Guidewire Connections 2016 conference in San Francisco, California. Everyone we met wanted us to explain what it meant to be a Guidewire partner, and how it could help them.

So what does it mean to be an insurance solution partner?

Alongside our core insurance solutions, we also have award-winning modular solutions that can surround core platforms and work to enhance their capabilities, making life easier and smooth for insurers. Our solutions empower insurers to drive their business growth and work effectively with third-party core solutions like Guidewire’s Insurance suite.

As a result, Hubio sought partnerships, so that these products and services could be used with other vendors. We recently partnered with Guidewire to develop pre-built accelerator solutions for two products – Regulatory Statistical Reporting and Usage Based Insurance (UBI) solutions.


1. Regulatory Statistical Reporting:

Hubio has developed the number one solution for the Canadian market that works with core Policy and Claims systems, and transforms and manages the data to meet regulatory statistical reporting obligations. As market leader, the Hubio solution is proven, reduces risk, and allows insurers to focus on other core activities. Collaborating with Guidewire, Hubio is developing an accelerator that works with native Guidewire code to ensure accurate, timely, fast reporting. With the integration to Guidewire’s platform complete, customers need only worry about the data transfer to the third party system, something Hubio understands completely.

2. Usage Based Insurance:
Having been recognised by PTOLEMUS as a top global telematics provider, we are working with Guidewire to develop an accelerator that enables insurers with Guidewire PolicyCenter to take advantage of Hubio’s award-winning telematics platform.


Telematics is transforming the insurance industry

During his keynote speech at Guidewire Connections, David Stevens, Chief Executive Officer at Admiral hailed telematics as a game changer. He has already seen the impact of telematics data on pricing models and claims experience with Admiral’s UBI program and said: “Never have I come across anything as fundamentally transformative as this.” At Hubio, we understand that this technology has the ability to change every aspect of the insurance value chain as we know it – read our analysis here: Usage based insurance (UBI): a game-changer for insurers

Partnerships help us grow
At the conference, Marcus Ryu, CEO at Guidewire highlighted the importance of partnerships for Guidewire and Hubio is very excited to be working with them to develop solutions that help insurers better meet their needs. The partnership currently applies for North America customers but we have already gained interest from global insurers for broader coverage so watch this space!

If you want to learn more, why not get in touch? We’ll explain how the Hubio – Guidewire accelerators can provide enormous value to almost every insurance carrier. Contact us today.

17:27

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

Deutsche Bank AG increased their holding from below Notifiable Threshold and now have 3,471,638 (7.54%)

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5444275

1ST CENTRAL extends its partnership with Hubio
November 14, 2016

1ST CENTRAL Insurance has extended its commitment to Hubio’s claims platform, ICE Claims, with a new agreement.

1ST CENTRAL has partnered with Hubio to provide ICE Claims and ICE Intelligence in support of its end to end claims operations since its launch in 2008. Hubio has continued to support their business with their ongoing goals of increased efficiency, better customer communication and overall cost management. Since its go-live, 1ST CENTRAL has implemented 9 Hubio ICE upgrades, with the most recent being in September 2016.

Speaking of its recent upgrade to ICE Claims, Glen Marr, Claims and Counter Fraud Director at 1ST CENTRAL commented: “I want to compliment Hubio upon how well our most recent ICE upgrade was delivered. It once again demonstrated how everyone in both organisations works well together across our projects.  We continue to take upgrades from Hubio year on year as new functionality comes into the application that we can benefit from.”

Lynette Slater, Client Services Director at Hubio said: “We have a longstanding relationship with 1ST CENTRAL, and are delighted that they have confirmed their ongoing commitment to working with Hubio with this agreement. ICE Claims gives 1ST CENTRAL the tools to achieve the automation and efficiencies needed in today’s high expectation, high availability environment.  We look forward to working further with 1ST CENTRAL to leverage the benefits of Hubio’s technology.”
For more information about the partnership, please visit www.hubio.com/1st-central-extends-partnership-hubio

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 07 November 2016.

Major shareholder information

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

Beach Point Capital Management LLP-----------5,541,978----------------------12.04%
Deutsche Bank AG-------------------------------3,471,638-----------------------7.54%
M&G Investments (Prudential)------------------2,916,666-----------------------6.34%
Dialectic Capital Management LP---------------2,307,438-----------------------5.01%


Subtotal------------------------------------------14,237,720----------------------30.93%

Current total shares in issue 46,038,333 as at 24 May 2016 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%).

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 07 November 2016 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/

With our updated image comes an updated website! Follow the link below to see all of the services we offer!
bas-energy.co.uk

5 hours ago

We're proud to launch #BAS Energy; a rebrand initiative that puts more resources at your disposal! Find out more at: bas-energy.co.uk

3 days ago

Hubio Insurance ‏@hubioinsurance
6 minutes ago

Who's at the Digital Insurance Awards today? Hubio's @Hubio_Andrew and @_NeilThomson are here - come say hello! #wakeupinsurance





Edit:

Tech Mahindra are one of the sponsors

and

Digital Insurance Company of the Year/ The Digital Champion Award

Aviva ***winner***
BGL Group
Ingenie

This has been released internationally and without embargo on RNS and will appear at 7am in the UK.

Watchstone Group plc

("Watchstone" or the "Group")

Retention of warranty escrow monies


Watchstone Group plc (LON:WTG) notes the announcement by Slater and Gordon Limited (ASX: SGH) that it has obtained an opinion from an independent barrister in respect of the warranty escrow relating to the sale of the Professional Services Division in May 2015 ("Opinion").

Watchstone has received a copy of the Opinion, which states that a warranty claim presented by Slater and Gordon Limited and/or Slater and Gordon (UK) 1 Ltd (together "SGH") has on balance a prospect of success and that, if successful, such claim would be likely to have a value of £53m. Accordingly, £50m is to be retained in the warranty escrow account until the warranty claim is resolved.

The Opinion is solely for the purpose of determining whether the warranty escrow may be released to Watchstone at this time. It does not pre-judge the outcome of any legal proceedings. Watchstone remains satisfied that the warranty claim has no merit and will defend it robustly if proceedings are brought.

During the process leading to the Opinion, Watchstone had no right to require disclosure of key evidence in the possession of SGH which would be relevant to the merits and quantum of the warranty claim. Watchstone believes this evidence will be available to it in the event that SGH issues proceedings and it intends to seek disclosure of such information at the earliest possible opportunity.

Capital return

Watchstone will now not proceed with its further capital return to shareholders until the warranty claim detailed above is resolved.

Balance sheet update

As at 25 November 2016, Watchstone had cash of £83.1m (excluding the Warranty Escrow).

Watchstone will make further announcements in due course, as appropriate.

Watchstone Defers Further Return Until Slater & Gordon Claim Resolved
Alliance News 30 November, 2016 | 8:12AM

LONDON (Alliance News) - Watchstone Group PLC Wednesday said it will not proceed with its planned further capital return until a warranty claim with Slater & Gordon Ltd is resolved.

Watchstone noted an announcement from Slater & Gordon detailing an opinion from an independent barrister in relation to the warranty claim Slater & Gordon is pursuing against Watchstone in regards to its GBP637.0 million deal in March 2015 to acquire the professional services arm of Quindell, the controversial firm which morphed into Watchstone in late 2015.

The opinion states that the warranty claim presented by Slater & Gordon has "on balance a prospect of success", and if successful, would likely have a value of GBP53.0 million.

As a result, Watchstone said GBP50.0 million is to be retained in the warranty escrow account until the warranty claim is resolved.

The company stressed that the opinion does not pre-judge the outcome of any legal proceeds, and that it remains satisfied that the warranty claim has no merit, and it will defend it "robustly" if proceedings are brought.

Watchstone had been planning to return the GBP50.0 million to shareholders after it was released from the warranty escrow account, having already returned GBP411.9 million to shareholders after the sale to Slater & Gordon, but said Wednesday it will not proceed with this until the claim is resolved.

Shares in Watchstone were down 12% at 167.00 pence Wednesday morning, shortly after market open.

By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1480493561517088900/watchstone-defers-further-return-until-slater--gordon-claim-resolved.aspx

Video: ERS insurtech success with Hubio



Following the change of control, ERS had a clear objective to replace their legacy IT platform with key requirements to support their turnaround business strategy. Hubio was chosen to deliver this business critical change. 3 years on since the first technology implementation, we talked to key executive members at ERS and Hubio.

A strong working relationship
Speaking on the relationship, Mark Bacon, Active Underwriter at ERS said: “The difference that I saw in this piece of work was the way Hubio embedded themselves into our underwriting team, to really understand our business, and designed a solution that met the needs of the business.”

Clear lines of communication were fundamental to resolve any issues quickly, “We very quickly built a strong working relationship with an open dialogue on all levels and worked with ERS to adapt our ways of working as the programme needed. Our people are committed and passionate about what they do and always keen to find the right solution for the customer”, added Lynette Slater, Client Services Director at Hubio.

Powerful policy and claims management software
Tim Yorke, Chief Operating Officer at ERS highlighted the cost reduction in IT spending, “Our IT is now cost effective in a way that it never was before. Our annual IT spend has dropped by more than 60%.”

The ERS insurance business is intermediated and transacted via EDI and broker presentation, and they had over 5000 schemes to consolidate. They wanted to manage their own products and schemes, be agile and responsive and not beholden on IT. We worked closely with ERS to ensure they used as much functionality as possible out of the box, using the configuration tools to adopt their processes and rules to the ICE capabilities. As a result, ERS were able to reduce their set up from around 5000 to 250 schemes.  The true configurability of our processing and rules puts control of the operations in the hands of the business and has shortened product implementation times to weeks.

“It [the insurance system] allows us to be so much more responsive to the needs of our brokers and customers so when we identify opportunities, we can assess them quickly and we can deliver solutions to meet those needs,” Mark said. “It enables what we want to do as a business.”

Taking advantage of new features with regular upgrades
Following completion of the ERS’ IT transformation & migration over 2 years, ERS have a strategy of taking advantage of Hubio’s quarterly product roadmap – implementing a minimum of 2 upgrades per year each for Policy and Claims software and working closely with Hubio to achieve best practice adoption for their business operations.

For those who love a good cycling analogy, Peter Smith, Claims Director at ERS takes the example of the Tour de France and the peloton, “With our system, we were off the back of the peloton by a good distance and we were really struggling.” Moving onto Hubio ICE Claims has got ERS back in the race.