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Investing.com -- Admiral Group shares rose more than 5% on Thursday after the insurer reported a 69% increase in earnings, with UK motor profit up 56% and both results topping expectations.
Group profit before tax came in 2.6% above consensus, while the UK motor division beat forecasts by 5.9%.
Household profit was 32.6% ahead of estimates. Travel and pet insurance recorded a £0.1 million loss, better than the expected £1 million loss.
International operations fell short, reporting a £0.6 million loss against a forecast £1million profit.
Admiral Money delivered a 63% profit before tax beat. The company’s Italian business, which has undergone remediation efforts, was said to be progressing on track.
The group combined ratio stood at 77.7%, 2.8 percentage points better than expected.
UK motor recorded a 71.2% combined ratio, with its core ratio at 76.6%. The current-year loss ratio of 72.3% was 1.5 percentage points better than forecast, and claims releases of 12.6% exceeded expectations by 1.3 percentage points.
Earnings per share were 130.9p, 6% above consensus, and the dividend was declared at 115.0p, 8.6% ahead of estimates.
Admiral’s stock closed at 3,368p before the release, valuing the company at £10.3 billion (€11.9 billion).
“Moreover, though management make no reference to it in their statement, we note that recent ONS data suggests that an industry-wide turn in prices could be underway,” said analysts at Jefferies in a note.
Jefferies added that management observed price declines slowing quarter to quarter but said they have not yet seen prices rise, warning that market profitability will deteriorate if premiums do not increase soon.