Admiral on track as profits rise

Staff at motor insurer Admiral pocketed another £1,500 share bonus today after half year revenues sped through the £1 billion mark.

The firm, which owns Diamond, elephant.co.uk and Confused.com, grew turnover by 53 per cent to £1.1bn in the six months to June 30 after insuring 3.15m vehicles in the period, up 33 per cent. Premiums rose around 11 per cent.

However, chief executive Henry Engelhardt said that the company was not immune to the rising level of no-win no-fee injury claims as higher payouts clipped profits growth to 27 per cent at £160.6m.

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Comparison website Confused.com also continues to battle again tough competition. The cost of a relaunched advertising campaign to take on rival Go Compare’s opera singer and Compare the Market’s talking meerkats, meant Confused’s profits fell seven per cent to £8.2m despite 10 per cent higher revenues.

Mr Engelhardt added: “All in all we’re pleased with the numbers for the first half of 2011. As a result, every member of staff will receive £1,500 of free shares in the group, worth over £8m in total,”