'New beginning': Ensurance focuses on Australian market after maiden profit

Underwriting agency Ensurance says the business is set on growing its Australian operations after achieving a first-ever profit in the last financial year.

The business reported today an after-tax profit of $273,745, rebounding from a year-earlier loss of $1.3 million while gross written premium (GWP) increased to $57 million from $35 million.

Ensurance says the results reflect its ongoing strategy to establish the underwriting agency as a “rapidly” expanding provider of specialist insurance cover.

“It’s obviously a big turnaround in the past 12 months,” CEO Tom Kent told insuranceNEWS.com.au today.

“This is a big moment for us but more importantly I think it just hails the start of a new beginning. The next 6-12 months are really for us all about adding more diversity into our product set.”

Ensurance is eyeing the Australian market again, having focused on the UK since selling its Australia-focused underwriting arm to 360 Construction and Engineering in 2020.

Last year the business acquired TK Specialty Risks (TKSR), a professional and financial lines-focused underwriting agency with a network of more than 70 brokers across the country.

And last month Ensurance announced the sale of its UK business to Melbourne-based PSC Insurance Group for $8.2 million under a non-binding agreement. The deal is undergoing due diligence process.

Proceeds from the sale will be used the support the Australia business, Ensurance has said.

Ensurance says during the course of the 2021/22 financial year, TKSR was swiftly re-branded as Ensurance Australia and the management team set about expanding its footprint across Australia in order to distribute its professional risks insurance product set.

“The decision to sell the company’s UK operations reflects a strong belief in the opportunities awaiting us in the Australian market,” Mr Kent said.

“We want to ensure the company takes full advantage of what is a fast-growing market for niche insurance products. The sale of the UK operations will enable us to focus solely on this opportunity.”

Mr Kent says the broking channel is a “focus” for the underwriting agency as it seeks a bigger share of the Australian market.

“What we want to be doing is working closely with all of our broker partners,” Mr Kent said. “We’ve doubled our broker agency agreements over the course of the past year.

“We deal with brokers of all shapes and sizes and that’s a flag we’ll proudly fly for as long as we can.”

He says at present about 60% of Australian revenues come via the Steadfast and Austbrokers networks.

“We actively encourage brokers to come to us when they’ve got an idea for a new product or when they’re struggling for capacity so we can build products for them,” Mr Kent said.