Strong growth at Brightside

01/04/2009 Robert Tyerman

Insolvency specialist-turned-insurance broker Brightside says business is booming after turning £7.8 million losses into £5.9 million pre-tax profits.

The Bristol-based company transformed itself last year through the reverse takeover of Group Direct in June, accompanied by a £10.8 million placing of 17 per cent of the equity at 19p to insurer Norwich Union (part of the Aviva insurance group) and Stena Group. AIM-quoted Brightside increased revenue 43 per cent last year to £33.2 million, an improvement attributed by chief executive officer Paul Chase-Gardner to rising premium rates and the success of the company’s ‘leading-edge technology on the internet’.

Brightside, operating from Bristol, Southampton and Torquay, is Britain’s largest small commercial van insurance broker, a position strengthened in December by the purchase of online van insurance broker eVan for £3.3 million down and a £1.5 million deferred payment. Chase-Gardener says Brightside is among Britain’s largest insurance brokers in the small and medium-sized business market, providing clients with a range of services, including fleet insurance and cover for commercial risks.

The company’s personal lines business enjoyed a strong 2008, with motor and household policy sales up 30 per cent. Brightside’s online household insurance brokerage, eHome, increased policy sales by no less than 500 per cent.

Chase-Gardener and his colleagues say the outlook for 2009 is ‘positive’. In the first quarter of this year, personal lines customer ‘units’ have doubled and medical reporting cases processed have risen almost 300 per cent, while minibus and taxi ‘units’ have grown 34 per cent, though commercial insurance is up a more modest three per cent.

Floated at 69p two years ago, Brightside shares soon reached 109.5p before plunging to 17p last month. Now 22p, they value the company at £72 million and stand a chance of outperforming some sector peers.

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