Adam Winslow, CEO of Direct Line Group, commented

"We have seen a positive start to 2024 trading, with double digit gross written premium growth in our Motor, Home and Commercial businesses and overall growth for ongoing operations of 15.0%. Claims trends and Motor margins continue to develop in line with our expectations.

"We have announced a number of significant hires over the last few weeks. I am confident that with the new leadership team in place, we can deliver run-rate annualised cost savings of at least £100 million by the end of 2025 and a net insurance margin, normalised for weather, of 13% in 2026.

"I look forward to sharing our refreshed strategy to deliver higher returns and the progress we have made against the immediate priorities to improve performance at our Capital Markets Day on 10th July 2024."

Trading summary

Trading update

• Gross written premium and associated fees for ongoing operations up 15.0% on Q1 2023 with strong growth in Motor, Home and Commercial direct.
• In-force policies were 1.8% lower. As expected, Motor volumes were lower due to the continued repricing of the Motor book, whilst Home own brands in-force policies saw modest growth.
• Motor claims trends in line with expectations, with estimated written margins maintained above 10%.
• Q1 saw several periods of adverse weather which led to around £33 million of weather claims in Home, of which £24 million was event related, compared with our annual event assumption in Home of £54 million. 

APPENDIX 1: Gross written premium and associated fees

APPENDIX 2: In-force policies by segment⁴ (thousands)

APPENDIX 3: Motor and Home average premium (£)

Notes:

(1).    The Trading Update relates to the three months ended 31 March 2024 and contains information to the date of publication.

2.   Direct own brands include in-force policies for Motor under the Direct Line, Churchill, Darwin, Privilege and By Miles brands, Home under the Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege brands and Commercial direct policies under the Direct Line and Churchill brands.

3.   Motor partnerships includes the Motability partnership, which started on 1 September 2023, and resulted in significant growth in the third quarter of 2023. From 2024, the majority of Motability gross written premium is recognised twice a year on 1 April and 1 October. As the Motability contract is a fleet contract, customer numbers are used to allow a more representative presentation of the Group's in-force policies.

4.   Ongoing operations – the Group's ongoing operations result excludes the results of the brokered commercial business, that it sold to RSA Insurance Limited in 2023, and the Rescue and other personal lines partnerships that the Group first excluded from its 2022 results. Relevant prior-year data has been restated accordingly.

5.   Gross written premiums for the By Miles brand which were previously reported within Motor partnerships have been reallocated to Direct Own Brands. There is no impact on in-force policies.

6.   Excluding the By Miles brand.