Staff Will Get Share of Windfall ; IN ASSOCIATION WITH Renshurg Sheppards Group Posts 26% Leap in Profits

By HOLLY WILLIAMS Business Correspondent

CAR insurance group Admiral said it would hand out a share windfall worth pounds 3m to staff as it posted a 26% leap in half- year profits.

Around 2,300 staff at the group - which owns insurance brands Admiral, Elephant.co.uk and price comparison website confused.com - are set to benefit from the share bonus.

Swansea and Cardiff-based Admiral made the announcement as it celebrated a "fine performance" in the first six months of the year, with better-than-expected pre-tax profits at pounds 86.3m against pounds 68.7m in the same period last year.

Customer numbers increased 16% to 1.4m despite a challenging car insurance market, according to Admiral.

Net revenues from insurance premiums dipped slightly to pounds 74.9m from pounds 71.6m.

Soaring profits growth at its online comparison business Confused.com helped drive the group's performance and offset weakness in the car insurance sector.

Confused.com saw a 125% hike in pre-tax profits to pounds 19.7m - results which follow less than two months after Admiral dropped plans to sell a stake in the online operation.

The group had been in talks with private equity suitors to sell a minority holding, which valued Confused.com at between pounds 600mandpounds 650m.

But Admiral said in July it had decided against the sale as the potential bidders were demanding too much boardroom control.

Confused.com provided 7.1m quotes in the first half of the year, up from 4.1m in 2006.

The division also saw a rise in the number of quotes for areas other than car insurance, such as home and travel insurance, up by 700,000 to a million.

Chief executive Henry Engelhardt said: "Previously we've said there will be more competition in this sector. We will work hard to defend our leadership position in this growing market."

A 'fine' first six months of the year

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