Sabre GWP shrinks on soft market conditions in first quarter

By Ryan Hewlett

May 22 - (The Insurer) - UK motor insurer Sabre Insurance has reiterated its full-year guidance despite reporting a 22.9% reduction in its top line for the first quarter of 2025 amid “less attractive” market conditions.

In a trading update on Thursday, the London-listed group reported gross written premiums of 66.1 million pounds ($88.7 million) for the period, down from 85.7 million pounds a year ago but still 8% higher than the five-year average.

Motor GWP declined by 24.9% year on year, while motorcycle and taxi GWP was down 5.7% and 7.8%, respectively.

Management said the top-line reduction was the result of its strategy to reduce the volume of business written during a “less attractive” underwriting period.

CEO Geoff Carter said in a statement that the first quarter of 2025 marked the “weakest part” of the current pricing cycle compared with the peak of the previous cycle in the first quarter of 2024.

Carter said Sabre continued to write “healthy” levels of business at strong margins and is well positioned to return to growth when pricing inevitably corrects.

“Against a backdrop of continued UK motor insurance premium deflation, Sabre's -25% contraction in UK motor gross written premiums is as understandable as it is prudent,” Jefferies’ Philip Kett in response to the trading update.

“The contraction of motorcycle and tax premiums has been more modest at -6% and -8% respectively, although neither is individually material to the group.”

Sabre highlighted that market pricing data suggests that decreases have flattened across the motor vehicle market and that it expects premium increases later in 2025 in response to 12-month market price reductions of around 15%, set against continued high levels of inflation.

Claims inflation for 2025 is anticipated to remain in the high single digits, Sabre said, in line with previous guidance.

Sabre reiterated its full-year 2025 guidance, which includes an undiscounted net insurance margin of between 18% and 22%. Premium growth for the remainder of 2025 remains dependent on market conditions but the insurer said its current expectation is of a slight decrease in total premium year on year.