Brightside increases underwriting capacity

AIM-listed Brightside, a specialist insurance broker, has launched a new underwriting facility with Markerstudy, the Gibralter-based insurance group.

Under the terms of the agreement, Brightside has been granted delegated authority to determine premium pricing and to bind Markerstudy for up to £80m of premium, which will be written through the eCar platform. Subject to the results of this initial agreement, the board anticipates that additional agreements will follow, which is expected to further boost the capacity available.

Martyn Holman, Chief Executive of Brightside, said: "The board sets itself a target of broadening its underwriting panel in order to ensure sufficient and diverse capacity is available across its entire product range. The additional capacity being supplied by Markerstudy is part of this process and we look forward to making further announcements in due course."

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Brightside's business model involves providing underwriters with a reliable source of quality business, mainly vehicle insurance, so it carries no underwriting risk itself.

In July it launched car insurance policies for the High Street retailer Debenhams.

Consensus estimates for the full year, ending December 31st 2012, are for pre-tax profits of £19.58m on revenues of £89.24m.

CM