The American boss of Admiral signed off his 25-year tenure at the motor insurer by saying that 2015 been the “the year of the uncut diamond”.
Henry Engelhardt, who set up Admiral in 1991 and led its flotation in 2004, said as he delivered his final set of results: “When the year started many people thought it would turn out to be a lump of coal. But no, 2015 was no lumpy coal year. How good a year was it? Well, that’s why it’s an uncut diamond. We know there’s good value in there, after all, it’s a diamond, but exactly how much value? Time will tell.
The description, coming on the back of previous years that were a “baked potato” — comforting but not dazzling — and a “baked alaska” — both hot and cold — was seized gleefully by investors, who propelled the shares 7 per cent higher to £18.78.
Mr Engelhardt was reporting better-than-expected results at the owner of the price comparison site Confused.com as well as the Elephant, Diamond and Bell brands. Annual pre-tax profits rose 6 per cent to £377 million and Admiral said it would pay a final dividend of 63.4p and total dividend of 114.4p per share, up 16 per cent from a year earlier and above forecasts for 97.3p.
The final dividend is made up of a normal dividend of 33.6p and a special dividend of 29.8p per share. The company decided it could release surplus capital after being given a high solvency II ratio by regulators of 206 per cent.
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The colourful 58-year-old, who owns 12 per cent of Admiral, based in Cardiff, is giving way to his chief operating officer and fellow co-founder, David Stevens, in May.
“David and I met almost 30 years ago at business school . . . We did some great projects together there including one on perfume advertising and another on what a beer bottle says about the beer inside,” Mr Engelhardt said.
He will stay on after May as a part-time adviser, Admiral said. In his farewell statement he added thanks to his PA Julie, who has worked with him for 18 years.
“Julie says ‘good morning’ in such a positive way even when it’s dark and wet and cold — most mornings actually — such that you can’t help but think that, yes, maybe it really is a good morning,” he said.