Brightside Group

Insurance broking and financial services concern Brightside Group is bullish on current prospects after lifting annual profits 8% to £6.7m pre-tax.

The Bristol-based company, a leader in van assurance and out to expand its life assurance and medical reporting operations, grew revenues 34% to £44.7m last year and, if 2008’s acquisition goodwill and investment sale loss write-offs are taken into account, upped its profits nearly 25%. AIM-quoted Brightside achieved a 30% increase in overall policies sold to 197,000, with on-line van policies up 18% to 105,000 and on-line home insurance policy sales surging 127% to 25,000.

Steered by chief executive Paul Chase-Gardener, the company raised £20m at 22p in December. He says most of the money is initially going to expand Brightside’s Panacea premium finance, which processed 157,000 loans last year, an increase of nearly 15%, but will later go, ‘as required’, into its life assurance business, which chalked up ‘an annualised run rate’ of 13,000 policies in 2009 and into medical reporting, which increased instructions 133% last year to 28,000.

Chase-Gardener says life insurance sales showed a 13% year-on-year increase for the first two months of this year and argues income per policy will rise as premium rates harden. Noting that medical reporting instructions rose another 133% over the same period, he argues the life assurance side should gain further momentum when its online offering goes live imminently.

Highlighted by Growth Company Investor at 21.5p last September, Brightside shares, which have fluctuated between 32p and 21p over the past 12 months, now trade at 27p. Hold on.