Insurer Jardine Lloyd Thompson Says Its Profit Advances 38% on Fees, Taxes

Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest publicly traded insurance broker, said first- half profit climbed 38 percent on higher commissions and a lower tax charge.

Net income rose to 58.6 million pounds ($91.5 million) in the six months to June 30, from 42.5 million pounds a year earlier, the London-based company said today in a statement. That beat the 45.4 million-pound median estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

“Organic growth at the retail business is particularly strong at 9 percent and this division tends to be higher margin,” said Thomas Dorner, a London-based analyst at Oriel Securities Ltd. with an “add” rating on the stock. “It’s a relatively smaller and more specialist player that continues to take market share from the larger brokers.”

JLT, which earns money by taking a proportion of customers’ insurance premiums, has been making small acquisitions overseas to boost sales as insurance rates decline. The company bought a stake in Greco Group, Austria’s largest insurance broker, earlier this week and has made 26 acquisitions in the last four years.

The broker will continue to buy firms at a similar rate in the next 12 months and is considering adding to all divisions, Chief Executive Officer Dominic Burke said in a telephone interview said.

Revenue climbed 21 percent to 375.5 million pounds and the group’s tax charge almost halved to 9.4 million pounds. The broker raised its first-half dividend to 8.8 pence a share from 8.5 pence a year earlier.

The stock declined 0.5 pence, or 0.1 percent, to 585 pence at 8:55 a.m. in London, valuing the firm at 1.3 billion pounds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Crowley in London at kcrowley1@bloomberg.net

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