Gable Holdings posts loss after non-recurring charges

European non-life insurance company Gable Holdings announced its results for the 2015 calendar year on Friday, with a significant loss arising from a number of one-off charges.

The AIM-traded firm had £100m of business written during the year, and reported gross written premiums of over £91.1m, representing a 14% increase over the prior year.

Gable said retention rates and new referrals continued to drive strong growth in GWP across all markets.

It made a pre-tax loss for the group of £24.3m, which included a number of previously announced non-recurring adjustments.

Those adjustments consisted of a £7.5m provision to eliminate the remaining balance of the pre-2012 historical reserving gap, an increased £7.9m provision to fully write off the debtor relating to an after-the-event insurance policy, provisions for claims arising from the significant flooding in the UK and Europe in December, and the writing off of goodwill of £4.25m relating to the acquisition of Gable Insurance AG in 2005.

The company’s cash and liquid investment balances have increased by over 45% in the financial year, Gable’s board reported, and were £61.6m at year end.

“Over the ten years since start up in 2005, we have grown a significant business in terms of written premiums, commercial reach and capability, underwriting across a core of customers and strategic niche classes of business in nine European countries and building a strong brand of trust with SMEs,” said Gable Holdings chief executive William Dewsall.

“Following the announcement of a strategic review of Gable's business, I can confirm that, after consultation with our regulator, the FMA, we are taking steps to implement a solution which will operate under the new Solvency II regime.

"The regulatory landscape since we started the business has changed dramatically which has necessitated the strategic review and we are now proceeding with discussions with a range of parties which will require a significant restructuring of the Group's business and scale of underwriting operations in order to provide a solution to ensure compliance with Solvency II across all lines of business,” Dewsall explained.