32. Boncaster

Fee and commission income (2000): £21.8m
Pre-tax profit (2000): £2.6m

Address:
Library House
New Road
Brentwood
Essex
CM14 4GD
Tel: 01277 200 100
Fax: 01277 206 066
Email: nick.potts@cox.co.uk
Website: cox.co.uk and www.insure.co.uk

History: Brentwood-based Boncaster was established in 1931, building the business through the acquisition of broker accounts and operating numerous schemes for many household name affinity partners. In more recent years, Boncaster became part of the retail division of Cox Insurance Holdings and has grown by launching its own direct product, insure.co.uk, and establishing relationships with other e-commerce partners, including Egg Insure. It now employs 423 staff across four sites, Brentwood, Bradford, Solihul and Southampton.

Boncaster offers its customers and clients the flexibility of a panel of insurers including Norwich Union, Zurich, Cornhill, Royal & Sunalliance and Equity Red Star to ensure it remains competitive across the motor and home markets.

Chief officer: Nick Potts, managing director

Biography: Nick Potts originally trained with Midland Bank, becoming manager of UK marketing in 1989 and managing the office of the chief executive for UK banking and group operations.

In 1995, Nick joined UK broking chain Colonnade as operations director, managing a network of 110 branches and the company's telebroking centres in Yorkshire and Northern Ireland.
In 1998, he joined Privilege Insurance as head of commercial operations and was instrumental in the launch of the highly successful motor insurance scheme for Barclays Bank and in setting up Privilege's commercial insurance division for small businesses.

He joined Cox Insurance Retail Division in 1999 as sales and marketing director and was appointed managing director of Boncaster, part of Cox Insurance Retail Division, in January 2001, while still retaining his other Cox responsibilities.

Major shareholders: Cox Insurance Holdings
Main lines of business: Personal lines motor, home, motorcycle, pet and travel insurance plus vehicle breakdown cover.

Special schemes: Numerous affinity schemes including Volkswagen Insurance, Audi Insurance, Peugeot Insurance Services, Age Concern Motor Insurance, Egg Insure, Insurancewide.com and the Royal British Legion.
Number of UK branches: 4 call centres
Number of employees (average for 2000): 423

Greatest technological advance: Launch of interactive website powering insure.co.uk, Egg Insure and others. These have resulted in significant increases in volume of enquiries.