Specialist motor insurance syndicate ERS has made a huge comeback.
Announcing the firm’s financial results for 2018, sales and marketing director Jonathan Watson described the full-year profit of £11.1 million as the highest to date since Aquiline Capital Partners snapped up ERS from Insurance Australia Group nearly six years ago.
More importantly, the latest figure signifies a massive turnaround from the previous £12.2 million loss suffered by the Lloyd’s underwriting business. Meanwhile ERS’s combined operating ratio improved from 104.9% in 2017 to last year’s 96.1%.
“2018 was a fantastic year for ERS and a result of our continued specialist motor only, broker only strategy,” noted ERS chief executive Ian Parker. “Continued investment in highly skilled teams and our roll-out of technology gives us a competitive edge that we believe will further improve our market position and returns to all stakeholders.
“The whole team have remained focussed on what we can control throughout 2018, and Aquiline’s strategic review has not knocked us off course or stalled the businesses momentum.”
Parker was referring to the ‘strategic options’ assessment announced last September. At the time it was revealed that the company’s majority shareholder had engaged Macquarie Capital and Evercore to assist in exploring potential outcomes, which include the sale of the specialist motor insurer.
Commenting further on the 2018 numbers, the CEO said: “What’s really pleasing is that 2019 has taken off as we expected with selective growth emerging. We’re really only just getting started.”
