Hastings declares first dividend as full year profit jumps 19%

FTSE 250 insurer Hastings, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in October, posted a rise in full year gross written premiums and operating profit as it declared its first dividend.

In the year to the end of December, gross written premiums were up 27% to £614.9m, net revenue rose 20% to £481m and group operating profit jumped to £126.1m from £105.7m in 2014.

Analysts had been expecting operating profit of £123.2m.

The company saw a continued increase in customer policies and market share, with live policies up 19% to 2.04m and market share of UK private car rising to 5.8% from 5.1%.

In addition, Hastings declared its first dividend of 2.2p per share, which represents a payout ratio of one third of adjusted profit after tax, in line with the intentions set out by the board at the time of the initial public offering.

Chief executive officer Gary Hoffman said: “2015 was a year of significant achievement for Hastings. Our agile, data-driven model has continued to deliver strong profitable growth, with gross written premiums up 27% and group profits at record levels.”

Shore Capital said the results were “solid” and ahead of the market’s expectations in terms of both the operating profit and the dividend, which had been pencilled in at 2p per share.