(Bloomberg) -- Hastings Insurance Group increased its customer base by 20% in 2014, boosting profitability and setting the U.K. car insurer on track for a potential initial public offering this year.
Hastings, which generates 90% of its business from price-comparison websites, gained 290,000 customers last year to 1.71 million, a statement showed Thursday. Gross written premiums increased 19% and adjusted pretax profit rose 29% to 69.3 million pounds ($103 million).
“Everyone is very pleased with the way the company is progressing, but at some stage it’s appropriate for shareholders to be able to get a return on their investments,” Chief Executive Officer Gary Hoffman, 54, said in a telephone interview. “There are different ways of doing that and an IPO is an obvious way.”
Hastings’s results sit in contrast with competitors, which have been writing less business in the U.K. amid falling insurance rates. The secret is not having “international distractions” and employing an “agile” digital business model to capitalize on the popularity of price-comparison websites, Hoffman said.
Shareholders including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s private-equity unit, which bought a 50% stake for about 150 million pounds at the start of 2014, are confident with the company’s pricing and reserving policy, Hoffman said. The CEO also said the insurer doesn’t need to raise more capital after selling bonds in 2013.
“Our focus is to continue to produce good results and in doing this we give our shareholders options,” the CEO said. “We are examining and assessing all options to us that includes a potential IPO, but we are are in no rush and no deadline or definitive timetable has been set.”
Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.