Admiral Group Plc (LSE:ADM) has recorded stronger profits over the first half of the year as customer numbers picked up once again.
Group pre-tax profit climbed 32% to £309.8 million over the six months to June on the back of a 43% uptick in revenue to £3.21 billion, the UK-based insurance firm announced on Wednesday.
This was as group customers ticked up 12% to 10.53 million, with Admiral having faced a drop in recent years after hiking premiums ahead of peers.
“Given our earlier pricing response to inflation in previous years, we have been able to be more competitive in the first half and this helped grow our customer base,” chief executive Milena Mondini de Focatiis commented.
“This was driven by a record 5.5 million vehicles on cover in the UK and nearly half a million more customers across other product lines in the UK.”
Admiral hiked its interim dividend from 51p to 71p per share on the figures, leading to a dip in its solvency ratio from December, though this is up at 198% against 182% in the first half of 2023.
Shares jumped 10% in early trading to 3,098p.