Admiral's first quarter turnover falls

Car insurer Admiral Group reported a fall in turnover for the first quarter as tough economic conditions gripped the UK.

The company reported a 6.0% drop in group turnover to £551m for the three months to April 24th, compared to £586m a year earlier, reflecting a 9.0% fall in UK car insurance sales to £470m from £518m.

However, international car insurance turnover increased 20% to £48m.

Group vehicle count, which includes UK car insurance vehicles, international car insurance vehicles and UK vans, increased by 4.0% to 3.6m.

While UK car insurance vehicle count remained unchanged at 3.0m, international car insurance vehicle count increased 30% year-on-year to 458,000.

"Little has changed since the full-year results and our expectations for 2013 remain positive and unchanged," said Chief Executive Officer Henry Engelhardt.

"Year-on-year UK car insurance market premiums are down around 10%. Not surprisingly our turnover has also fallen, but, as we have said before, we continue to be focussed on margin not volume and we believe this is not the right time for us to grow our market share in the UK. We are pleased to report that our claims trends continue to be positive."

He noted the strong performance outside the UK and said the group's financial position remained strong to deliver returns for shareholders.

RD