Sabre Insurance signs 5-year agreement with Freeway

Sabre is not paying a financial consideration to Freeway and will not be liable for any historical policies, claims or activities of business written previously by Freeway.

Sabre said the agreement, which will become effective 1 March, provides an attractive opportunity to grow its taxi book in conjunction with an expert partner. Taxi insurance currently accounts for around £1m of its total annual premium.

It is expected that the agreement with Freeway will generate an additional annual gross written premium of approximately £20m, generating an additional £2-4m of annual profit on a fully-earned basis.

Chief executive officer Geoff Carter said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to turbocharge growth in our small taxi book, which will contribute to the group's profits while establishing a further degree of diversification, following our entry into the motorcycle insurance market earlier this year.

"The partnership builds on our core capabilities and allows us to retain our underwriting discipline whilst providing incremental earnings growth. We will provide a further update on our progress with Freeway at our full-year results."

At 1250 GMT, the shares were up 8.2% at 218p.