Direct Line Insurance Group PLC on Tuesday said it is keeping its foot on the accelerator ahead of the £3.7 billion takeover by Aviva PLC.
The Bromley-based insurer accepted a 275 pence per share bid by London-based Aviva in December.
Chief Executive Adam Winslow said the deal reflects the ‘attractiveness’ of the group, and indicates the ‘significant strength of our brands and products’.
But Winslow stressed he remained ‘focused on transforming our organisation’.
‘While we need to plan appropriately for this potential takeover, we need to make sure we don’t take our foot off the accelerator when it comes to delivering business change,’ he added.
Direct Line said pretax profit fell 21% to £218.4 million in 2024 from £277.4 million in 2023. The prior year figure included a gain of £444 million from the sale of the Brokered commercial business.
Operating profit from ongoing operations was £205.0 million, swung from a loss of £189.9 million a year prior.
Gross written premium and associated fees from ongoing operations increased 25% to £3.73 billion from £2.98 billion reflecting strong growth of 32% in Motor including Motability, and 11% in non-Motor, above the firm’s 7% to 10% compound annual growth rate target.
Net insurance margin of 3.6% for ongoing operations, was a 12.3 percentage points improvement versus the prior year, demonstrating disciplined underwriting, Direct Line said.
The solvency capital ratio (pre-final dividend) was 200% in 2024 compared with 192% in 2023.
The total dividend was increased 75% to 7.0 pence per share from 4.0p.
Shares in Direct Line were 0.3% lower at 276.00 pence each in London on Tuesday.
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