It was a quarter of milestones achieved for insurance industry disruptor Ensurance across its UK and Australian operations including Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval for its UK operations and significant board appointments.
The ASX-listed company today released a company update on the December Quarter 2017 during which Ensurance UK (EUK) – which specialises in construction and engineering insurance – received FCA approval.
The FCA approval – a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom – means the company is a fully authorised Managed General Agent (MGA), all within less than 18 months since being incorporated.
EUK has signed 50 new Terms of Business Arrangements (TOBA’s) with major clients/brokers including large internationals by the end of the December 2017 quarter – close to reaching its initial target of signing 65 strategic brokers.
Ensurance also made a significant appointment with Tony Leibowitz – who has over 30 years of corporate finance, investment banking and broad commercial experience – joining the board as Executive Chairman.
The company’s online platform Ensurance Now – which permits partnered insurers to directly and instantaneously issue policies to the market – saw a 10% increase on previous quarter in the buying of new policies while quotes increased 2%.
Meanwhile, revenue generated by Ensurance Now during the December quarter increased 18% quarter-on-quarter.
White label partners actively buying policies during the December 2017 Quarter increased 30% quarter-on-quarter while White Label partners signing up during the quarter increased 15%.
December quarter 2017 was a challenging for Ensurance’s underwriting business with gross written premium (GWP) for the period down 26% quarter-on-quarter while quotes had fallen 8.4% quarter-on-quarter.
However, despite the challenging market conditions, revenue exceeded budget by 23%.
Following shareholder approval at the Company’s Annual General Meeting on 29 November 2017, Ensurance issued 70 million ordinary shares at $0.05 per share to raising total proceeds of $3.5 million before costs.
Proceeds from the placement will be used to expand Australian and UK operations.
Cash and cash equivalents as at 31 December 2017 were A$688,000.
The stock (ASX: ENA) closed Wednesday unchanged at 6.7c.
