Top 50 Brokers 2011: 16th RIAS

Management: Janet Connor, one of the sector’s most prominent female bosses, is to step down as managing director of RIAS to take the helm at MORE TH>N. Following parent company Ageas’s shake-up of its retail management structure at the start of the year, the over-50s insurance broker now sits alongside Kwik-Fit in the Ageas retail portfolio, under Andy Watson.

Strategy: RIAS is growing quickly in terms of revenue, but profitability growth is lagging. The broker made a profit after tax of £18.4m in 2010, up 4% from £17.8m in 2009. But this compares with a 10% growth in profits in 2009 and 15% in 2008. Meanwhile, revenues rose 4.6% to £84.3m in 2010 from £80.6m in 2009, compared with 4% in 2009 and 0% in 2008.

Last year’s revenue growth was partially offset by a 7.5% increase in cost of sales to £36.8m. But RIAS’s expense ratio – cost of sales and administrative expenses as a percentage of earned commission income – remained at 69%.

Big story: RIAS launched its motor insurance product on price comparison website Gocompare in July, offering an aggregator-tailored motor insurance product for customers aged 70 years and over.