Investee Company Update

RNS Number : 0969X

B.P. Marsh & Partners PLC

25 August 2020

 

Date:  25^th August 2020

On behalf of:  B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc

Immediate Release

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc

("B.P. Marsh", "the Company" or "the Group")

Investee Company Update - Walsingham Motor Insurance Limited

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc (AIM: BPM), the specialist investor in early stage financial services businesses, is pleased to present an update on one of its investments, Walsingham Motor Insurance Limited ("Walsingham").

Walsingham is a London based Managing General Agency, specialising in fleet insurance for public and private taxi fleets and couriers in the UK. It is backed by The New India Assurance Co. Ltd ("New India"), the Indian government owned insurance company with £9bn of assets, who have been operating in the London market since 1921. Walsingham have grown from a start-up to now writing over £26,000,000 in Gross Written Premiums ("GWP").

B.P. Marsh invested in Walsingham in December 2013, and owns a 40.5% direct shareholding, together with an additional indirect 2.3% via Walsingham Holdings Limited. In total it has invested £600,000 in equity and valued this combined holding at £2,103,000 at 31^st January 2020. In addition, B.P. Marsh also provided £1,200,000 of loan funding to support expansion which was repaid in full in July 2020.

Walsingham's business was impacted by Covid-19 and the lockdown restrictions. They foresaw  that their taxi portfolio, which represents c.50% of their book, would be subject to mass cancellations, and the courier portfolio would see increased vehicles and drivers. Walsingham immediately recognised the need to allow taxi policyholders flexibility in their work and allowed for food and shopping deliveries as well as various NHS support work to be undertaken without the need for policy extensions. This meant the retention of taxi fleets on the portfolio, which are once again already approaching full capacity.

Walsingham's team worked hard to keep up to date with requests for vehicles to be added to courier fleets, while ensuring that driver underwriting criteria was still being adhered to. This effort not only helped their Brokers and Policyholders, but also local communities reliant on drivers' incomes and distribution of food and medicines.

Walsingham saw approximately 10% of their book reduce over a four-week period as taxi drivers reacted to the lockdown. However, due to Walsingham's initiative and flexibility, as those restrictions eased GWP has increased significantly such that the initial Covid-19 reductions have now reversed, and the business is back on its original budget. At the same time, due to reduced traffic on the road this has resulted in significantly reduced claims frequencies over the last four months.

Garry Watson, Walsingham's CEO stated "At a time when many businesses within our sector are struggling to come to terms with the impact of Covid-19, Walsingham has not furloughed any staff and has been able to repay our outstanding investor loan ahead of schedule . The business has shown its trading strength during this unique period and capitalised on its core strengths; namely flexibility, organisation and planning, while utilising the excellent relationships we have built with our trading partners."

For further information:

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc	www.bpmarsh.co.uk
Brian Marsh OBE	[phone]
Nominated Adviser & Broker Panmure Gordon
Atholl Tweedie / Charles Leigh-Pemberton / Ailsa MacMaster	[phone]
Financial PR & Investor Relations
Tavistock	[e-mail]
Simon Hudson / Tim Pearson	[phone]

Notes to Editors:

B.P. Marsh's current portfolio contains eighteen companies. More detailed descriptions of the portfolio can be found at  www.bpmarsh.co.uk .

Since formation over 25 years ago, the Company has assembled a management team with considerable experience both in the financial services sector and in managing private equity investments. Many of the directors have worked with each other in previous roles, and all have worked with each other for approaching ten years.

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