PIB Group announces 2018 Full Year Results and Debt refinancing

June 11, 2019

PIB Group Limited (‘PIB’ or the ‘Group’) has released its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2018 with the filing of its statutory accounts. The Group has also secured the support of several new lenders to refinance its existing term loan facility and raised an additional committed acquisition facility.

GROUP FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

  • Revenue of £106.8m, an increase of 79% on 2017
  • EBITDAE of £15.1m, an increase of 281% on 2017
  • EBITDAE of £23.1m on a bank reported basis*
  • Gross Written Premiums of £532m
  • Organic revenue growth of 7.0%

* Includes 12 months’ pro forma effect of acquisitions and synergies

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

In 2018, PIB saw a number of developments which support its ambition to become one of the UK’s leading diversified and specialist insurance intermediaries:

  • Significant progress with its program of integrating acquired businesses into a secure and scalable core infrastructure, which supports common systems and centralised functions.
  • Formal creation of five separately regulated operating Divisions to support the next stage of PIB’s
    • development and growth:
    • Specialty
    • Schemes & Affinities
    • Employee Benefits
    • Underwriting
    • London Market / International
  • Continued drive to attract and recruit talent including account executives, teams and underwriters to supplement and enhance the Group’s focus on delivering strong organic growth.
  • Strong support from key insurer partners in PIB’s goal to build mutually beneficial partnerships, highlighted by their support in launching new insurance products through the Group’s MGAs including Liability Plus (High Risk Contractors) and Q Property (complex non-standard property risks).
  • Appointed Tim Brooke and Adrian Colosso as independent Non-Executive Directors who provide a fresh perspective, wisdom and external challenge to continue driving PIB forward.
  • Supported the launch of the inaugural Insurance Day of Giving, which saw PIB’s Insurance Broking and Placement Director Andy Tedstone championing the cross-industry initiative which aims to raise money for Insurance United Against Dementia to fund dementia research.

STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS

PIB is committed to delivering against its three key strategic pillars: Organic Growth, Acquisitions and Integration. Throughout 2018, the Group made significant investment in strengthening its specialist product and distribution capabilities. Acquisitions included:

  • Lorica Insurance Brokers Limited, a retail insurance broker with strong propositions in the property, sports & leisure and cyber sectors.
  • Wilby Insurance Brokers Limited, a retail insurance broker specialising in commercial insurance for caravan dealers and parks and care (children’s and social care, hospices and shelters)
    sectors, plus motorcycle dealers.
  • i2 Healthcare Limited, a specialist corporate healthcare intermediary established to advise corporate clients across a range of sectors on their health insurance, risk and employee wellness
    requirements.
  • Albany Asset Management Ltd, Scotland’s leading provider of childcare insurance packages.
  • Wheatley Wright Insurance Services Limited and Online Risk Solutions Limited, both with expertise in the construction, manufacturing and high-risk insurance sectors.
  • In addition, the Group acquired books of business from Wrightsure, Blackmore Borley and Lincsafe Risk Management. It also launched a new PIB Risk Management business, through the merger of its existing businesses Sigerson Associates and Ford Risk Management.

DEBT REFINANCING

Looking ahead and at the halfway point of 2019, PIB has also completed a Group debt refinancing. With the support of several lenders, both existing and new, PIB has refinanced its original term loan facility and raised an additional committed acquisition facility. The move takes the Group’s total potential borrowings to in excess of £200m. In conjunction with the continued support of The Carlyle Group this leaves PIB well placed to execute on its medium-term growth strategy from a strongly capitalised position, with significant free cash, and with strategic lending partners who are keen to provide more capital to support further growth.

Ryan Brown, CFO for PIB commented: “We are delighted with the progress we made in 2018 as a Group in what was only our third full year of operation. Whilst the headlines have often been dominated by the acquisitions we have made, I am very proud of the hard work our team has put into an ongoing program of integration and infrastructure excellence, all of which helps to manage cost and risk, and creating a sustainable, scalable and efficient platform. It is this investment which enables our businesses to focus more on client, product and service, and ultimately, it is this focus which has driven our impressive organic growth sustained over the last three years.

On PIB’s refinancing activity, Brown continued: “I am also incredibly excited by our refinancing. The level of interest we received from potential lenders, and the high quality nature of the lenders we have secured to support us moving forwards is a strong validation of the progress we have made in embedding and delivering against our three key strategic pillars: Organic Growth, Acquisitions and Integration. We continue to have a strong pipeline of opportunities, and with the continued support of The Carlyle Group and our new lenders, we remain on track to realise our ambition of creating a leading diversified specialist insurance intermediary which remains independent and privately financed for many years to come.”