Admiral's UK policy growth at lower end

Car insurer Admiral said it has made a good start to the year with performance in line with management expectations.

First quarter group turnover rose 9% to £586m from £539m in the first quarter of last year.

The number of vehicles insured rose 17% to 3.4m from 2.9m the year before, while the UK car insurance vehicle count increased 13% to 3.0m from 2.7m in the first quarter of 2011, in line with management projections. This represents an annualised growth rate in the first quarter of the order of 5%, the group said. Admiral has already guided towards lower UK policy growth in 2012, of 5-10%.

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Meanwhile, the international car insurance vehicle count increased 83% to 350,000 (Q1 2011: 190,000).

As anticipated by the market, there has been no change in claims trends from Q4 2011, while UK other revenue per vehicle remained stable at £84.

JH