Profiles
12. BUDGET FINANCIAL SERVICES
BUDGET HOUSE
BRETTON WAY
PETERBOROUGH PE3 8BG
TEL: 01733 845555
FAX: 01733 845010
WEBSITE: WWW.BUDGETINSURANCE.COM + WWW.BUDGETINSURANCE.COM
FEE AND COMMISSION INCOME (2004): £94.96m
PRE-TAX PROFIT: £8.09m
NUMBER OF UK BRANCHES: 95
CHIEF OFFICER: PETER WINSLOW, CHIEF EXECUTIVE
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1992
HISTORY
The Budget Group of companies began operating in the UK in 1992, when Budget Insurance Company was formed to repeat the success that founder Douw Steyn had enjoyed with South Africa-based motor insurance firm Auto & General.
In December 1997, a change in group strategy led to the establishment of Budget Insurance Services to act as an intermediary, marketing policies underwritten by a panel of insurers. In November 1999 the group acquired Arnott Century, a chain of high street retail outlets based in the North East, Scotland and London, to expand and diversify its distribution channels.
In October 2001, Budget acquired Coventry-based Dial Direct, a major UK car and motorcycle insurance intermediary, selling primarily under the brands of Dial Direct and Bennetts.
In August 2002 Budget launched its affinity business, Junction. In January 2003 the first affinity scheme for National Australia Bank Group was launched.
Since then a further nine schemes have been launched, many of them with leading UK brands. Affinity partners include Bradford & Bingley, Homebase, MBNA, Marks & Spencer Financial Services, the Post Office and Uniservice.
In May 2003, Bennetts launched a new brand identity and aggressive marketing campaign, resulting in significant growth. In June 2003 Budget launched its own uninsured loss recovery business, ACM ULR. In its first year of trading it captured 80,000 incidents and provided uninsured loss recovery service to all of Budget's and its business partners' policyholders.
In July 2004 the company opened its fourth contact centre in Cape Town, South Africa, which is planned to accommodate almost 200 staff within a year. The company has over 900,000 customers, 85 high street retail outlets and major contact centre operations in Peterborough, Coventry and Sunderland.
It employs around 1,900 people and is based in Peterborough.
MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Budget Group
MAIN LINES OF BUSINESS
Personal lines - car, home, motorcycle and commercial vehicle.
SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES
The group's trading subsidiaries operate under the names Budget Insurance Services, Dial Direct, Bennetts and Junction.
CHIEF OFFICER BIOGRAPHY
Peter Winslow qualified as a chartered accountant in 1978 and went straight into the book publishing industry. He built up and sold a private niche publishing concern to HarperCollins, which he joined in 1989 as finance director. He went on to become chief executive from 1990 to 1994.
At 40, he decided on a career change, preferring to focus on call centre operations.
He joined the Budget Group of Companies in 1995 as deputy managing director and became group chief executive in 1997.
He also presided over several high profile acquisitions including Arnott Century and more recently Dial Direct, which saw staff numbers increase from 1,200 to nearly 2,000.
Since joining Budget Winslow has been responsible for turning it round from a loss-making business to a profitable one.
