Ageas posts Q1 pre-tax loss despite strong growth

Ageas Protect has seen strong growth protection business in the first quarter of the year but reported a pre-tax loss.

The provider reported a 23.6% rise in new annual protection premiums to £6.7m (Q1 2010 £5.4m) with gross written premiums doubling to £8.8m (£4.4m).

However it still posted a first quarter pre-tax loss of £800,000 despite seeing its customer base grow by 68% to 135,000 over the same period last year.

The growth in new premiums and customers reflected the continued nationwide roll-out to advisers and the insurer now claims a 6.4% IFA market share.

Martin Werth, managing director of Ageas UK, commented: "A year ago our sales mix biased towards non advised sales. Now the bias is over 80% advised. We are starting to crack the IFA market and I am confident we are going in the right direction."

Overall, the company, which includes a general insurance arm, saw total income up by 75% to £411m and its pre-tax profit rise by £7m to £3.8m, following its loss during the same period last year.

Barry Smith, chief executive of Ageas UK, said: "We continue to see strong progress in the delivery of our strategy to increase the breadth of our products through different distribution channels.

"In the first quarter, Ageas UK has delivered a strong combination of high levels of growth coupled with improving profit performance," he added.