Firm highlights continued demand for products at "reasonable and realistic" prices

Abbey Protection said it was on track to beat its £8.5m pre-tax profits in 2008.

Abbey posted a pre-tax profit of £4.3m for the first six months of 2009, which will at least double when the full year’s results come out in March.

Managing director Chris Ward said a continued demand for Abbey’s services, which centre around legal and tax expenses protection and advice, had helped.

“We have been able to maintain reasonable and realistic price levels. That, I suppose, is a result of the services we deliver to clients that they are prepared to pay for.”

Group chief executive Colin Davison added: “It also demonstrated the importance of applying strong risk management controls, particularly in mitigating exposure to employment claims from SME clients as unemployment levels have continued to rise.”

Meanwhile, latest figures from Abbey indicate that businesses are regaining their confidence.

Redundancy calls from business networks seeking advice fell to 2,749 for the fourth quarter of last year, compared with 4,905 for the same period in 2008, a drop of 44%.

Topics