Admiral sees growth slow in the third quarter

Car insurance firm Admiral saw a slight decrease in third-quarter turnover but has assured that it is still on track to hit its full-year targets, blaming the decline on seasonal factor.

"Little has changed since the half year.The UK car insurance market is cyclical and we are in the softer part of the cycle with premium rates coming down," said Chief Executive Henry Engelhardt.

"We believe that the sensible strategy in this part of the cycle is to slow our rate of growth," he said.

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Group turnover, defined as total premiums written (including co-insurers' share) and other revenue, fell by 2% to £570m during the three months to September 30th, down from £582m in the third quarter of 2011.

Specifically, car insurance turnover fell by 5% from £527m to £502m, even though group vehicle count improved by 8% from 3.28m to 3.55m.

As such, year-to-date turnover is now just 3% higher year-on-year at £1.74bn (year-to-date 2011: £1.69bn), down from the 6% growth rate seen at the half-year stage.

Year-to-date UK car insurance turnover is flat at £1.53bn.

Engelhardt said: "As ever, we continue to focus on the quality of our underwriting, on being a low-cost provider of car insurance, giving great service to our customers and on delivering value for our shareholders. We remain on track to meet our expectations for the full year."