Sabre Insurance Group reveals financials

The camp of Sabre Insurance Group Plc is admittedly not happy about the company’s full-year financial results for 2022.

Here are the numbers, according to Sabre’s earnings release:

Lifting the lid on the pre-tax profit, Sabre attributed the decrease primarily to pressure on its loss ratio due to rapid, unexpected inflation. Meanwhile, throughout the year, the insurer maintained what it called a disciplined approach to pricing, deploying significant rate increases across its motor book.

Commenting on the figures, chief executive Geoff Carter (pictured) said: “While the 2022 result is disappointing by our own standards, due to the impacts of extraordinary levels of inflation, I am hugely encouraged by how quickly we identified and corrected for these challenges, and the strong foundation we have maintained.

“The actions we have taken have enabled us to grow supplementary product lines, deliver a profit, and announce a special dividend in what has been a highly challenging market. I believe our performance is highly creditable in a market context.”

A total final dividend of 1.7p per share has been proposed by Sabre’s directors. Dividends for 2022 amount to 4.5p per share, including the already paid 2.8p per share ordinary interim dividend.

Meanwhile, Carter went on to highlight: “Our rapid response and focus mean that we still delivered a very strong financial year loss ratio of 61.5% on our motor book, and the new motorcycle and taxi portfolios are firmly on track to deliver a meaningful contribution to profit. We remain pleased with these new partnerships.”

Sabre, which holds no external debt, expects to see improved loss ratios across motor, motorcycle, and taxi in the year ahead. For 2023, the group’s overall combined operating ratio is forecast to fall to within the 85% to 90% range.