Expanding Charles Taylor posts solid results; ex-Kiln boss becomes chairman
Insurance services firm Charles Taylor posted a strong set of the results for the first half of 2015, a period of several strategic landmarks for the company, and also revealed a change of management at the end of the year.
The company’s revenues grew to £69.1 million in the first half of the year, compared with £56.8 million in the first half of the same period in 2014. Its pre-tax profit for the period was £5.3 million, an improvement compared with the £4.1 million it made in the same period a year earlier.
Highlights from the first half of the year include it completing a rights issue, which raised £28.9 million after expenses, launching a Lloyd’s managing agency, the acquisition of an international life insurer and the acquisition of a significant stake in an insurance software specialist.
“The group delivered strong growth in revenue, as the benefits of previously announced growth initiatives started to flow through, combined with solid growth in adjusted profit before tax,” David Marock, the company’s chief executive, said.
“We benefited from our broad diversification of operations across the global insurance market. A strong performance from our insurance support services business and steady progress by our management services and owned insurance companies businesses have more than compensated for the weaker trading conditions experienced by the adjusting services business.”
The company said that it would look to use the money raised in the rights issue for acquisitions, joint ventures and business investment opportunities.
“We are evaluating a number of opportunities,” Marock said. “As previously stated, such opportunities need to be a good strategic, cultural and financial fit with the group’s existing businesses.
“The first of these to be announced, has been our agreement with The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm, to acquire collectively a majority interest in Fadata, a specialist provider of software solutions to the global insurance industry.”
It also highlighted the fact thatCharles Taylor Managing Agency (CTMA), the group’s Lloyd’s turn-key managing agency, performed well. It has been appointed by its first syndicate, Syndicate 1884, which commenced underwriting in April 2015.
“We intend that CTMA will offer its syndicate management capabilities to other Lloyd’s syndicates in the future,” it said.
Finally, it announced some changes to senior personnel.
Damian Ely will be appointed as chief executive officer (CEO) of the adjusting services business on January 1, 2016, in succession to Arthur Clarke, who will retire. Ely joined Charles Taylor in 1988 and is currently the group chief operating officer and an executive director.
Rupert Robson, chairman of the company, will retire on 28 August 2015. Edward Creasy, a former CEO of Kiln and who has been an independent non-executive director of Charles Taylor since 1 January 2014, will succeed him as chairman.
Marock added: “We are very positive about the future prospects of Charles Taylor. The potential for growth in the professional services delivered by the group to global insurance markets, along with the life company acquisition market, is high.
“We are successfully executing our strategy for growth and are building on a significant number of initiatives which we believe will deliver further growth for the benefit of shareholders, clients and our highly professional team of people.”
