Admiral Group plc (ADM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Well, good afternoon, and welcome to Admiral's 2025 Annual General Meeting. It's now shortly after 12:30 and the quorum required by Article 58.1 of the company's Articles of Association namely the 2 members personally present and entitled to vote is met, and I declare the meeting open. This AGM is being live streamed to either Teams platform and will be being recorded. For the great sense of pride that I stand before you today to reflect on Admiral Group's remarkable achievements over the past year. Despite the challenging and uncertain economic landscape, Admiral demonstrated resilience and strength achieving an impressive 90% increase in pretax profit and a 28% rise in turnover, the year ending the 31st of December 2024. Our unwavering commitment to excellence has enabled us to deliver an impressive service to our customers as demonstrated by consumers voting Admiral as the winner of the best Motor Insurance Provider for 8 years running. We've also been able to deliver a significantly increased dividend to our shareholders with a year-on-year total dividend per share increase of 86%. This success is a testament to our robust business model, strategic agility, the dedication of our talented employees. They are exceptional contributions with instrumental in driving our growth and maintaining our position as 1 of the most competitive insurers in the market. During the year, we welcomed an additional 1.4 million customers to the group, further solidifying our reputation, providing top-tier services and products. Our strong culture has been the cornerstone of our success. Admiral's commitment to foster a supportive and innovative work environment being recognized globally with our MSCI ESG score upgraded to AAA and our inclusion in the world's top 25 Best Workplaces. We continue to invest in our people and reward their hard work to ensure that they remain motivated and engaged. This year, over 13,000 employees received free share awards worth up to GBP 3,600 and a bonus in recognition of the role they played in the group's excellent performance in 2024. Our focus on diversity, inclusion and sustainability has not only enhanced our corporate reputation, but has also driven our financial performance. As we look ahead, I remain confident in our ability to navigate the complexity of the market, leveraging our strong foundation and the talented team to deliver long-term growth and value for all our stakeholders. As a board, we would like to thank you for your continued support and trust in the Admiral Group. On 31st of March, we were sad to announce the retirement of Justine Roberts from the Board and from all our committee and senior independent director appointments effective on the 18th of June 2025. Justine has served with distinction for 9 years as an independent Nonexecutive Director of the company. Her contributions have been invaluable. On behalf of the board and the entire company, I extend our deepest gratitude to Justine for her exceptional service. On a personal note, Justine's been an immense support to me since I assumed the role of Chair of Admiral. Justine will start to reappoint today and subject to this vote being successful, we stand down from all our Admiral appointments on the 18th of June. We wish you all the very best in our future endeavors. Subject to this reappointment today, Andy Crossley will take over the role of Senior Independent Director from Justine effective on the 18th. I will also introduce all the members of the board individually as biographies of the directors can be found towards the back of the AGM notice. And in the 2024 Annual Reports and Accounts on Pages 101 to 106. But we do have 1 of our directors, JP, joining us virtually. So we welcome him. Copies of the directors' current service agreements as well as copies of current Letters of Appointment, which the nonexecutive directors of party are available for inspection at the rear of this route, together with a copy of the DFSS rules and the current Articles of Association. The notice convening this meeting, which will be on our website together with the company's Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending the 31st of December 2024, and subsequently, after printing was sent on the 31st of March 2025, to all those shareholders who elected to receive paper copies. Accordingly, the requisite notice of the meeting has been given, and I should like with your permission to take the notice as read. This year, we've arranged the Annual General Meeting to be live streamed for our shareholders via Microsoft Teams. Shareholders have been invited to log into the AGM to watch and listen to proceedings and ask questions. The Chair of the Remuneration Committee, Karen Green, the Chair of the Audit Committee, Fiona Muldoon and the Chair of the Risk Committee, Andy Crossley, are present, and are available to answer any questions you may have. Before turning to the main business of the meeting, I would therefore like to dedicate a few minutes to answering any questions that you may have. Firstly, from shareholders that are attending the meeting in person and then from any shareholders joining via our live stream. Thank you. There being no questions. We will [ answer ] any questions that have not been answered in writing via our communications team. So we can now move on to the business of the meeting. In accordance with best practice and as stated in the notice of this meeting, I'm exercising the authority contained within the company's Article of Association, the call for a poll to be taken on the resolutions put to the meeting. In the interest of efficiency and with your permission, I will not read each resolution out, but each of them is set out on Pages 6 to 8 in the notice. Resolution 1 to 19 are proposed as ordinary resolutions. This means that for each of these resolutions to be passed, more than half of votes cast must be in favor of the resolution. Resolutions 20 to 23 are proposed to special resolution. For each of these resolutions passed, at least 3/4 of the votes cast must be in favor of the resolution. I propose Resolutions 1 to 3 and 5 to 23 are set out on Pages 6 to 8 of the notice. As usual, a separate resolution is proposed in respect of the election or reelection of each director. As Resolution 4 concerns my own reelection, I've asked Justine Roberts, our Senior Independent Director, to propose that resolution. Now I have Chair of the meeting to Justine for that purpose.

Thank you, Mike. I propose the reelection of Mike Rogers as a Director of the company as set out in Resolution 4 on Page 6 of the notice. Now I'll hand the chair back to Mike.

Thank you, Justine. Many shareholders have sent in a proxy appointing me to vote on their behalf. I will vote as they have instructed me. If they have given me direct discretion as how to vote, I should be voting on their behalf in favor of the resolution concerned. I'll now put all resolutions to vote by poll. Please indicate on your poll card how you wish to vote. The poll will close 10 minutes after the close of the meeting. If you've not yet completed your poll card, please do so now and hand it in to the registrar. [Voting]

The results of the voting at the meeting and the number of proxy votes cast for and against together with a number of votes actively withheld in respect of each of the resolutions proposed at this meeting will be announced via a regulatory information service and also placed on the company's website, www.admiralgroup.co.uk, as soon as practical following the close of this meeting. I can now confirm that based on the proxy votes that have been cast prior to the meeting, there are already material majorities in favor of each of the resolutions that have been proposed. Thank you. That now concludes the formal business of the Annual General Meeting. I thank you for your attendance, and I declare the meeting closed.