Direct Line sees increase in profit

Britain’s largest motor insurer said it expects a combined operating ratio - a comparison of claims to premiums - of 94 per cent to 96 per cent in 2015 after normalising for claims from major weather events.

The FTSE100 company reported a pretax profit from continuing operations of £456.8m for the year ended December 31, compared with £407.3m a year earlier.

Paul Geddes, CEO of Direct Line Group, said: “At the time of our IPO in 2012 we announced four targets for 2014, and I am delighted to report that we have met or exceeded all of them. “After paying the regular and special dividends for 2014, we will also have returned a total of £836m to shareholders since we began life as a public company.”