Fee and commission income (1998):
Fee and commission income (1998):
£60.7m
Pre-tax profit (1998):
£9.3m
Head office:
Hill House
Lewins Mead
Bristol
BS1 2LL
Tel: 0117 929 2906
Fax: 0117 925 2337
e-mail:
website: www.hhh.co.uk
Major shareholder:
Norwich Union
Chief officer:
Bryan Jenkins, chairman
Company history:
Based in Bristol, the company was founded in 1959 under the name of Hill House. Initial branches included Havant, Nottingham, London, Leeds and, with the opening of the Severn Bridge, Wales.
In 1983, Hill House was bought by Hill Samuel through its Lowndes Lambert subsidiary, which had previously sold personal lines insurance under the
L Hammond name. The names were merged to form Hill House Hammond. By 1991, HHH had a network of 133 branches when it was purchased by Norwich Union.
The company has an active acquisition programme which sees a regular number of acquisitions of single-site businesses most months. The most significant acquisition in recent times has been that of Premium Search, the Northampton based Telebroker, which was acquired in November 1997.
In recent years, a growing involvement with motorsport sponsorship has added an extra dimension to HHH's range of activities, and the company is proud to be title sponsor of Elf/HHH Super One National Kart Championships. The business development team forged strong links through this relationship, and in 1999 the company launched a new brand, Silverstone Insurance, in association with Silverstone Circuits, the home of the British Grand Prix. The company now sponsors the National Saloon Car Championship and also launched a Silverstone Insurance website in May 2000.
Today, HHH deals with a panel of leading insurance companies and its 2,000-plus staff serving the needs of 1.2 million customers.
One of the company's strengths is its extensive branch network, which offers a local, face-to-face professional service, alongside a seven-day-a-week national telephone call centre.
Main lines of business:
Personal lines with a growing presence in the commercial market, providing for the needs of small to medium-sized businesses through specialist centres.
Special schemes:
HHH offers exclusive home and motor products, at individually negotiated rates, through its panel of insurers. It has a growing number of staff schemes and affinity group relationships. The company has specialist centres for vehicles (US, kit cars etc.), trailer tents and touring caravans, horse and pony, and exclusively negotiated products for travel and pets.
Number of UK branches:
250 personal lines branches, five specialist commercial centres (plus six satellite offices), two personal lines call centres, one commercial call centre, one marine centre and two claims centres.
Number of employees (average for 1999):
2,116
Greatest technological advance:
A complete upgrade of its technical infrastructure, using Linux/IBM for the branch network and upgrading the systems used in head office and departments.
The result is a system where the company has central control: all functions talk to each other and processes are much simplified. This gives it the power to cope with greater volumes of business and to continue to support and expand its branch network.
