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Motor insurance group Sabre Insurance reported an 8.9% fall in first-half profit, but reinstated its deferred 2019 special dividend, citing the strength of its cash position.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through June decreased to £22.5m, down from £24.7m on-year, as gross written premium revenue fell 14% to £86.9m.
Sabre declared an interim dividend of 4.3p per share, down from 4.7p on-year, and added a payment of the deferred full-year 2019 special dividend of 5.2p per share.
The company said overall trading conditions had improved markedly since its 21 May trading update, with premium written in June about 12% higher on-year.
'At the time of AGM trading statement in May we were in the eye of the storm as lockdown continued, with new business volumes having shrunk significantly and with no certainty on the impact on claim costs,' chief executive Geoff Carter said.
'At the half-year mark, we are in a more favourable position. Quotation requests in the market have increased markedly as lockdown restrictions have eased.
'Looking forward, whilst it remains difficult to forecast the short-term impacts on volume and claims costs, we are pleased that Sabre's well established and conservative strategy has enabled us to weather the recent challenges whilst supporting our customers, and will continue to do so.'
'We anticipate our combined operating ratio for the full year will fall within the 70%-to-80% corridor, although uncertainties as we move into the second half of 2020 make it difficult to project exactly the outcome within this range.'