Sabre Insurance unveils special dividend after strong 2023 results

Shares in Sabre Insurance were rising on Tuesday after the motor insurance underwriter doubled its dividend payout for 2023, proposing a bumper special dividend after a huge surge in profits last year.

The company's combined dividends for the year came to 9.0p per share, up from 4.5p in 2022, after lifting its total dividend to 5.1p from 2.8p and proposing a 3.9p special dividend after passing excess capital to shareholders.

Gross written premiums totalled £225.1m last year, up fro £171.3m the year before, while the net loss ratio fell sharply to 56.3% from 66% – in line with the firm's historical target level in the low-to-mid 50% range.

As a result, pre-tax profit swelled to £23.6m from £14m in 2022.

Following a challenging 2022, where we reacted early and decisively to the rapid increase in inflation, this year has seen us benefit as some competitors increased prices rapidly and others withdrew from the motor insurance market," said chief executive Geoff Carter.

Looking ahead, Carter said: "We anticipate that the business we wrote in 2023 will earn through at attractive margins delivering an increase in profitability in 2024. I also expect that market pricing discipline will hold allowing us to grow further."

The stock was up 3.7% at 164.8p by 1025 GMT.