Top 50 Brokers 2011: 13th Kwik-Fit

Management: June Lynch was promoted to managing director of Kwik-Fit Insurance Services (KFIS), which includes its broking business, in January, after 11 years with the firm. This came under a reshuffle by new parent Ageas UK, which bought KFIS for £215m a year beforehand.

Previous managing director Brendan Devine has been appointed to the newly created role of retail commercial director for Ageas, which includes managing Ageas UK’s retail insurer, aggregator and affinity partner relationships.

Strategy: KFIS made a £4.8m loss for 2010 as a result of a £13.4m charge related to the acquisition, compared with a profit of £9.9m for 2009.

The charge relates to the write-off of a £14.6m intercompany debt owed to KFIS from Kwik-Fit GB.

KFIS said the charges were one-off and that the firm’s underlying, long-term trend is one of “sustainable profits”.

Indeed, the results showed it would have performed better than in 2009, with profit on ordinary activities before exceptional items up 9.3% to £11.9m in 2010, compared with £10.9m in the previous year. Turnover also jumped 4%. (The business was included in Ageas UK’s results from the beginning of August 2010.) The next challenge for Ageas will be to create cross-selling opportunities across its UK portfolio.

Expertise: Kwik-Fit has been operating as a car repair company since 1971. Its insurance broking arm, set up in 1995, searches more than 25 insurers for motor cover.