Swinton Insurance has "entered a period of significant growth" with record profits of £23.2m in 2004, according to chief executive Patrick Smith.

The high street broker saw premium income rise by 7.6%, to £403m, leading to a 14.4% rise in commission income, to £109m.

Smith put the results down to a change in the mix of the Swinton book of business fed by organic growth rather than acquisition.

He said: "Our growth is not just through acquisition, it is also through organic development. Our long term growth will come through organic growth, indeed we believe we have entered a period of significant organic growth."

Figures released by the company stated that Swinton's book of acquired business had remained relatively stable, at around 300,000 policies over the past two years.

Its book of non-acquired business had grown from around 1 million policies to 1.2 million over the past two years.

In 2004 Swinton acquired the right to offer renewals on about 100,000 policies, converting about 70% of them. The company expects the same level of acquisition this year.

Smith said: "The French parent company (MMA) is very happy, they recognise the level of contribution to the group is significant. Last year the UK businesses contributed about 40% of the group's total profits."

MMA will announce its results later in the year.