Sure Thing on to a winner with increase in policy count
Lanarkshire broker changes its strategic focus Operating loss remains stable at £1.8m during year
Sure Thing Insurance Services, the Lanarkshire-based broker headed by former Kwik Fit Financial Services chief Brendan Devine, has reported a double-digit hike in its policy count following a change of strategy.
The firm, which is headquartered at Eurocentral, said that during the past financial year its policy count rose by 12.8 per cent, with gross written premiums (GWP) nudging up to £32 million. It comes on the back of a strategic decision to write more lower premium policies in order to grow overall policy numbers. The company now has 76,700 customers and, in its fourth year of trading, saw its operating loss remain “fairly flat” based on the previous year’s result, at £1.8m.
Devine, chief executive at Sure Thing, said: “In 2017-18 we have continued to invest heavily in the business and build on our strong foundations for growth.
“We are very pleased to see such an uplift in our policy count given our strategic move to focus on increasing these numbers, and our operating loss and revenue – which was down £1m to £11.4m – are very much in line with our forecasts and plans in just our fourth year of trading.
“We have concentrated on ensuring we are lean, streamlined and nimble, looking carefully at cost savings, chiefly through less new business volumes and significant policy growth from the renewal book.”
He added: “As we look ahead to the year ending March 2019, we are on track to further increase our policy count and GWP, and build on profitability.
“In early 2019, we will launch our own managing general agent. This will give us the control to grow policy count and revenues even further, as well as complementing the existing broker panel and diversifying the portfolio.”
The broker, which launched in 2014, specialises in car insurance and features on all major insurance comparison sites. In 2016, it launched van insurance as well as a dash cam-based insurance policy in partnership with Nextbase and Halfords.
During the past year, Sure Thing also picked up a host of industry award wins, scooping Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Insurance Times Awards as well as Overall Broker of the Year at the Insurance Choice Awards.
Devine added: “It is wonderful to be recognised by the industry with these awards. This confidence from the sector underlines our achievements in staying one step ahead.
“Our customer service continues to be something we are very proud of. This is testament to the hard work of our outstanding team here and their commitment to our ambitious growth plans, which continue to go from strength to strength.”
sreid@scotsman.com