Sabre Insurance Group plc (LON:SBRE), one of the UK’s leading private motor insurance underwriters, today provided an update on trading for the period ending 30 April 2019 ahead of its AGM later this morning.
· Continued strategy of prioritising underwriting profitability over volume, with the competitive market dynamics observed in FY18 continuing through the first four months of this year
· Anticipated full year Combined Ratio slightly better than mid 70% target
· Gross written premium down £5m YOY (£64.7m V £69.8m) as expected with Sabre maintaining its strategy of countering claims inflation with ongoing price increases to preserve underwriting discipline and target margins
· Continued strong organic capital generation with a solvency coverage ratio of 185% (post payment of 2018 full year dividend) exceeding our preferred range of 140 to 160%
Geoff Carter, Chief Executive Officer of Sabre, commented:
“We are pleased to report results for the first four months of the year which are very much in line with our expectations. Our continued focus on our stated strategy has delivered strong underwriting margins and capital generation.
As anticipated, premium is down in the early months of the year as we continue to cover claims inflation through price increases against the backdrop of a continued competitive environment. We are very comfortable with our premium position at this point in the cycle and believe our strategy positions us well for growth when the market turns.
The outlook for our full year GWP position continues to be in a range depending on the timing of this market turn, but at this stage feels likely to be slightly down year on year.
We remain confident in delivering on our guidance for the full year, including a COR slightly better than our long term target, strong capital generation and an attractive dividend, as we continue to execute our long established and successful strategy.”
