Admiral’s 9% rise in group sales year-on-year fails to impress City
Admiral’s shares dropped as much as 4.1% yesterday as there were fears that the company could fall short of analysts’ expectations.
The shares dropped following Admiral’s announcement of a 9% year-on-year rise in group sales to £586m in the first quarter.
According to the Financial Times, analysts were jittery.
“Admiral usually gives guidance in its interim management statement on whether it is on track to meet analyst earnings forecasts,” said Peter Eliot at Berenberg Bank. “There is a notable absence of this [in the] statement this time.”
Eamonn Flanagan at Shore Capital said he was disappointed that the group, which owns price-comparison website Confused.com, declined to provide a figure for ancillary sources of income such as referral fees.
“We suspect that this figure is under increasing pressure,” he said.
Admiral had a profits warning last November over large claims, which the company says it has now put to bed.
Despite the profits warning, Admiral has largely avoided the same scale of problems suffered by rivals hit by bodily injury claims. Directors continue to remain confident that trend will continue.
Chief executive Henry Engelhardt said: “Our expectations for the full year remain positive and unchanged.”
Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
No comments yet