Admiral continues to grow and prosper in recession
ONE of Wales’ leading companies says it recruited more than 500 staff in the past year – and is looking to take on 100 more by January.
Admiral Group, which includes Admiral Insurance, Confused. com and Elephant.co.uk, said it was continuing to “grow and prosper” despite the recession in the wider economy.
The company, which is headquartered in Capital Tower in Cardiff, also has offices in Swansea and Newport and is Wales’ only company included in the FTSE 100 of top-performing firms in the London Stock Exchange.
The 2009 split shows 227 new jobs in Swansea, 199 in Cardiff and 76 in its newest office in Newport. Admiral now employs 3,048 people in the UK and 557 overseas, taking its total number of employees to 3,605.
Ceri Assiratti, Admiral’s people services manager, said: “Admiral is going from strength to strength as our recruitment figures show. Our customer base continues to grow so we need people to help meet the demand.
“The amount of interest in working for Admiral we’ve seen in 2009 has been unprecedented. Through the website, calls to our recruitment line and people who’ve been referred by staff we’ve had over 21,000 inquiries so far this year.
“For anyone who’s interested in working for us, communication skills are essential, as well as a positive attitude and lots of energy. But we have a training programme and career progression plans so there’s plenty of scope.”
The company has this year expanded its global operations, establishing a US arm.
Admiral’s US business, based in Richmond, Virginia, trades under the Elephant brand and sells car insurance to US customers by telephone and internet.
The company currently has 100,000 customers in Spain, Germany and Italy, generating turnover of £24.5m in the first six months of the year.
The US arm is headed by Andrew Rose, who is leading the company into a car insurance market worth $162bn a year in total across all 50 states.
The US system of insurance regulation, with each state having its own laws, means Admiral has carefully identified Virginia as the first state to go into.
Speaking on a recent visit to Wales, Mr Rose, who spent six months in Cardiff learning about Admiral and its operations before setting up Admiral Americas, said the market there was at least a decade behind the UK’s.
In its core UK car insurance business, Admiral’s profits over the first six months of the year lifted 18% to £101.2m.
Its turnover rose 17% to £540.1m, while its board announced a record interim dividend payment of 27.7p per share, which includes a special dividend of 14.9p.
Source: WalesOnline
