Windsor reports 12% profits rise

Windsor, the Lloyd's broker, has reported its broking

business grew by 8% in the year to 30 September 2001. This raised commission and fees to 14m for the period.

Its pre-tax profits are also up by 12% to £2.7m in the year to 30 September 2001 from £2.4m the year before.

Windsor makes its broking money mainly from commissions rather than fees.

This puts it in a good position to benefit from hardening rates, but leaves it vulnerable to capacity shortages.

Windsor could suffer from shrinking capacity in the PI market as PI is the largest of its five divisions, say analysts.

The PI division generated revenue of £4.3m in the period covered by the results.

Chairman David Low said the company's North American and Canadian operations, which include liability risks, turned in "significant profits for the first time".

He said it was doing well out of a growing trend to service smaller airlines. He forecast growth from broking cover for executive jets, cargo and regional commuter airlines.

Finance director Chris Murphy said the company could face capacity constraints under current hard market conditions, but forecast further growth, which included the difficult area of PI.

Windsor was on the lookout for a possible merger or acquisition.

"We're not about to merge with a large household name," Murphy said. "But you never stop the search."

Windsor is due to move out of its offices in Borough

High Street and Great Tower Street, London in the next

few months. It is in negotiations over a single new site

in central London.

Murphy said: "We're hoping to improve the overall performance of the operation by bringing it together and moving closer to the London Market."

He said a single and more central location would improve efficiency and make Windsor more attractive as an employer. This will be good news for chairman David Low, the single largest shareholder with just over 12% of the stock, who receives a salary of £150,000 and annual bonuses of £170,000.