Hastings Share Discussion Threads

[cwa1] 07/5/2019 12:03

Just taken a tiny piece here at 181 in the hope that it is a bit oversold following the last update. Probably a bit too early-but liked the look of the company and wanted to dip a toe in the water. Hoping for a medium term recovery.......

[matchupitchu] 03/5/2019 23:47

Aye...looks interesting....and I've taken a small position...

[grahamite2] 26/4/2019 16:14

Seems like an undiscovered gem

Undiscovered by me until just now - and I insure with them!

[johnsoho] 26/4/2019 16:10

Not to bad a trading update I thought but the share price has certainly suffered !!!

RNS Number : 1630X

Hastings Group Holdings plc

26 April 2019

Hastings Group Holdings plc

Trading update for the 3 months ended 31 March 2019

26 April 2019

Hastings Group Holdings plc ('the Group', or 'Hastings'), the technology driven insurance provider, today provides an update on its trading performance for the quarter ended 31 March 2019.

The Group has made positive progress delivering on its strategy, with policy count growth in a competitive market through improved retention rates. The tender of the Group's claims service partners has been successfully completed and further progress has been made on the programme of digital initiatives.

Financial and Operational review


-- Gross written premiums up 4% to GBP235.5m for the 3 months ended 31 March 2019.
-- Live customer policies up 3% to 2.75 million, in a competitive market environment.
-- Net revenue down by 1% to GBP183.1m due to lower earn through of premiums and reinsurance income from 2018 relative to the equivalent period last year, which benefitted from favourable 2017 premium dynamics, offset by retail income which has grown in line with policy volume.

-- Claims inflation remains high across the industry, with the main drivers continuing to be repair costs and further increases in third party property damage costs.

-- Material progress made in the transformation of repair and mobility services. This will provide improved commercial terms, better customer experience and new digital functionality, with the appointment of Vizion Network, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Autoglass BodyRepairs as our new claims service partners.

-- As a part of the Group's strategic initiatives, new renewal models were tested and rolled out in the 3 months ended 31 March 2019 which amongst other initiatives have increased retention rates by circa 4ppts.

-- Focus remains on delivering operational efficiencies from the continued digitalisation of the business. Whilst we are starting to see the early sign of benefits, we anticipate that certain expenses in 2019 will increase compared to the prior year, due to recent changes in UK law restricting VAT recoveries and increases in both the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Motor Insurers' Bureau industry underwriting levies.

-- The Group's digital and technology investments are delivering, with the mobile app having been downloaded over 200,000 times, almost 35% of total loss claims now being settled digitally and more than 1.6 million policies on Guidewire.

Toby van der Meer, Chief Executive Officer of Hastings Group Holdings plc, commented:

"I am really pleased with the progress we have made towards the strategy and plans we set out with the full year 2018 results. We have clear areas of momentum that leave us very well positioned for ongoing profitable growth in 2020 and beyond. Alongside many other initiatives underway, our new claims supplier deals, increased customer retention and digital enhancements demonstrate the significant progress made in the first quarter of 2019.

"The motor market continued to be competitive in the first quarter of 2019, but as always, we will trade through this environment with discipline whilst remaining focused on the execution of our strategy.

"My continued thanks go to my 3,400 colleagues for what they do for each other and our customers every day."

Outlook

The Group continues to closely monitor market premium rate dynamics and claims inflation, and in particular third party property damage costs which remain high across the market. The Group's full year loss ratio outlook depends upon the market environment during the remainder of 2019. If the current market premium and claims dynamics continue through the year the Group loss ratio would be expected to move towards the higher end of the 75% to 79% target range.

In light of the good progress on key initiatives, including renewals, digital and the new claims service partners, as well as Hastings' strong capital position, the Board remains confident in the Group's profitable growth opportunities driven by its competitive advantages.

Group performance



3 months ended
==========================
31 March 31 March Growth
2019 2018
======================= ======== ======== ======

Gross written premiums
(GBPm) 235.5 226.0 4%
Net revenue (GBPm) 183.1 184.5 (1)%
========================= ======== ======== ======

As at
==========================
31 March 31 March Growth
2019 2018
======================= ======== ======== ======

Live customer policies
(million) 2.75 2.67 3%
UK Private car market
share (%) 7.6% 7.4% 20 bps
========================= ======== ======== ======

[rcturner2] 12/4/2019 15:11

I bought into Hastings this morning after I found it via a screen.

Seems like an undiscovered gem.

[countless] 14/11/2018 10:16

Strong level two - hopefully we can move up and breach £2 now

[cwa1] 04/7/2018 08:41

In answer to the question above, this downgrade by Caz might have had an effect:-

03 Jul JP Morgan Cazenove Neutral 234.90 335.00 315.00 Downgrades

[fredfishcake] 03/7/2018 13:18

No idea - it's not ex-divi date, there are no relevant RNSs and my other insurers are up....let's hope it's random noise.

[johnsoho] 03/7/2018 09:59

Anyone any idea what’s caused today’s 12p price drop?....no bad news etc that I’m aware of!!

[shard of glass] 12/6/2018 09:41

Another solid company for the income portfolio and a bit of diversification with the inclusion of an insurer this time around.

Dividend yield is about 5.3%.

[corlis] 15/2/2018 07:35

At 297 this has to set up again, but looking fine.

[ntv] 07/9/2017 08:25

better to individual policies imho as you claim one one it would not affect every policy in the same way
i had seven car policies a few years ago
mostly with different insures it was under half the price of fleet or multicar
much lower excess and full value for car

[dvb99] 27/6/2017 14:39

Hastings are great on price, and if you dont have an accident.
But if you do, they are just appalling!

[essentialinvestor] 26/4/2017 09:33

EJ, have you not tried Direct Line out of interest?.

And 3.5K is a fair chunk.

[ntv] 27/3/2017 16:08

sold out today, probably to early again though we will have to wait and see

[ntv] 24/3/2017 19:18

nice breakout over the last few days, maybe a bid forthcoming from new slarge shareholder or is it just the broker upgrades

[ntv] 18/3/2017 08:18

heavy trading in auction, breakout time or a fat finger?

[cwa1] 02/3/2017 07:33

Prelims out.....

[topvest] 27/2/2017 20:57

Good news on Hastings today relative to the Direct line and Admiral. Direct Line and Admiral hit badly. Esure (1ST place) and Hastings (runner up) in much better shape.

What an absolutely ridiculous decision by the Government. Guaranteed to add 5% to insurance premiums from March and destabilising the insurance industry in the meantime as none of the companies were projecting such a low discount rate and this hits their capital surpluses. To me a negative discount rate is ridiculous. I'm an accountant and don't see discount rates below 1% on anything I look at. Having a negative discount rate looks and is totally ridiculous and a direct result of printing money. The government are stoking up massive inflation for later in the year. First food and energy, now insurance. What next?