Company website is www.admiralgroup.co.uk

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Admiral Group PLC (LON:ADM) and raised its price target to 1755p (from 1608p).

StockMarketWire.com
Admiral Group posts first half pre-tax profits of £193 million - 4% up on last time. Earnings per share rose by 2% to 55.9p and the interim dividend is up 23% at 62.9p per share.

The group said the first half of 2016 had been a positive period with strong growth in turnover and customer numbers, both to record levels.

Pre-tax profit also increased to a new record for a first half at £193m.

The group's main UK car insurance business enjoyed favourable market conditions and delivered particularly positive results, seeing a 16% increase in turnover, a 217,000 increase in customer numbers and a record H1 result of £222.8 million. UK household insurance also recorded continued strong growth (reaching 382,000 customers), improved key metrics (including expense ratio) and another profitable half year.

Outside the UK, Admiral's international insurance businesses grew turnover (44%) and customer numbers (13%) strongly and at faster rates than in recent periods. Encouraging progress was made in combined ratio terms, and although in aggregate the segment recorded losses of £12.9 million (up from £11.2 million) mainly as a result of the growth in the US and France, ConTe recorded another profitable six month period.

And in price comparison results were also encouraging: Confused.com in the UK grew revenue and saw a significant increase in profit to £8.3 million from £4.8 million; the Group's European operations retained leadership positions in their respective markets; and continued encouraging progress in developing the panel of insurers and key metrics was made in the US at compare.com.

Chief executive David Stevens said: "What a great time to take on the stewardship of Admiral. The last six months have shown the enduring, and indeed increasing, strength of the UK business and has seen a step change upwards in growth from our developing international businesses.

"In the core UK car insurance business, we've benefited from an increasingly rational motor market with evidence of a move towards a less violent cycle. Prices have been rising, and we've used this opportunity to grow our motor book strongly. Meanwhile, the growth of our household book continued apace, demonstrating our ability to expand successfully beyond our car insurance core in the UK.

"Overseas, Elephant launched into two new states and our longer-established European insurance operations, collectively, moved tantalisingly close to profitability, while also accelerating the rate of growth and investing more in promoting our brands. All our price comparison businesses, including Confused, grew rapidly."

For some reason I had these down for tomorrow! - Admiral Group plc results for the six months ended 30 June 2017

Peel Hunt Hold 2,063.00 1,751.00 1,751.00 Reiterates

Admiral Group has entered into an agreement with its former group CEO Henry Engelhardt and his wife Diane Engelhardt, whereby Diane was investing $25m into its US comparison service Compare.com. The FTSE 100 insurance firm said that as a result of the proposed transaction, Diane Engelhardt would hold 17% of the share capital of Compare, with Admiral owning 59% and White Mountains and Mapfre USA the remaining 24%. Henry Engelhardt would join the board of Compare.