Sovereign looks online as it seeks growth

The Bradford-based company, which provides health care cover to 70,000 individuals and companies, said digital development was the key to increasing its customer base.

The company is appointing a digital marketing manager to drive the development forward.

Chief executive Russ Piper said: "The development of sales through the internet will be an interesting one. Last year we had about 600 people join over the web.

"By 2020 most access to the web will be by mobile phones and smart phones. We need to make sure that what we develop actually fits how people access the internet."

He added: "Last year, behind our competition, we developed a process for paying claims by direct credit and that's gone very well. We're now paying about 25-30 per cent of claims daily by direct credit and that will grow this year. We are also looking at how we process claims and our accounting."

Mr Piper who took over the company from longstanding boss David Lewis in 2009, is in the process of modernising Sovereign, which is one of the city's oldest companies.

Turnover in 2009 was 10.8m, including 1.3m allocated from dividends and income, generating a surplus of just under 2.07m. Unrealised gains were just over 4m.

Operating profit was 800,000 compared to a loss the previous year.

In 2009, the company, which employs 44 staff, increased the number of new customers by 4,733.

Mr Piper said the number of customers leaving slowed down in 2009 and he predicted a net growth of customers in 2010. Over the next five to seven years he plans to increase the number of customers to 110,000.

The number of claims in 2009 fell as a result of customers tightening their belts. The cash plans which Sovereign provides pay back 50 per cent of a treatment.

Mr Piper said: "In reality, we expected 2009 to be tough but I was delighted with our results. From a profitability point of view 2009 was very good for us."

In the company-funded market, companies are being very careful in terms of the spending commitments they make.

"We've had to work harder at trying to break into that market. Going forward that is still a challenge for us. We're not as established as some of our competition and we need to continue to work quite hard to break into the company-funded market. In the individual market, we've just kept to a very clear and simple message and that seems to have worked well for us."

He added: "But 2010 has been more of a struggle. The weather in the first months made life very difficult. If anything, we're probably noticing the recession more now than in the previous year.

"Having said that, we did better in February than we did in January and we've done better in March so far than we did in the whole of February."

While some cash plan providers saw rising levels of fraudulent claims in 2009, Sovereign Health Care has not been affected. Mr Piper said: "Our own view at the present time is that it hasn't impacted on us."

In addition, despite the economic downturn, the company, remains committed to donating 500,000 each year to charities,

"I am really delighted that as a board we can afford to continue to give that level of half a million a year," Mr Piper said. "When we had a meeting 18 months ago we said that if we are going to enter a recession, charities are going to need the money more than ever."

Looking ahead to 2010, the company is looking to grow sales by 25 to 30 per cent.

"On a lower base figure that sounds significant and it is relative to your starting point," Mr Piper said. "But it is quite challenging for us. However, I genuinely believe that if we look to continually improve everything we do...then we have every opportunity to be successful."

Providing funds to patients

Sovereign Health Care started as the Bradford and District Hospitals Fund in 1873, making it one of Bradford's oldest companies.

Charged with raising funds for local hospitals, the firm was one of a number of similar organisations which helped patients to finance their own medical care.

Many such bodies folded with the creation of the NHS by the Labour Government of 1948, but Bradford's fund kept going.

It became a cash benefits scheme, wherein members' tax-free cash sums could be put towards everyday health care items, such as optical and dental treatment.

The idea proved hugely successful and, in 1987, the firm rebranded itself as Sovereign Health Care.

Today, it provides healthcare plans to both individuals and corporate institutions, with Morrisons and the Co-op among its clients.

While the company may do business across the country, most of its work is done within a 50-mile radius of Bradford.