Ardonagh hails ‘exceptional’ progress as profit and EBITDA soar in 2021

UK insurance intermediary  The Ardonagh Group’s management has said that it has made “exceptional” progress in its financial performance in a “defining year” that has laid a solid foundation for future growth.

Ardonagh, which houses Besso Insurance, Bishopsgate, Compass London Markets, Ed Broking, Inver Re, Piiq Risk Partners, Price Forbes and Towergate, among several others, is the largest independent broking platform in the London Market.

In the financial year 2021, the group increased its overall profit by 32.5% to £945.8 million, underpinned by organic growth of 7.3%.

The adjusted EBITDA increased by 42.4% from £223.7 million to £318.5 million. Ardonagh International profit saw an eight-fold increase from £22m in 2020 to £188 million pro forma profit in 2021.

Ardonagh highlighted that “disciplined, rigorous and efficient M&A” process yielded 27 acquisitions during the year at an average multiple of 6.5x post revenue and cost synergies.

The group completed acquisition of Ed Broking Group and Besso Insurance in November 2021, making it the largest independent London Market broker.

In December 2021, Ardonagh was valued at $7.5 billion as part of a significant new equity investment led by existing long-term shareholders MDP and HPS Investment Partners.

“2021 was a defining year because of the transformational acquisitions we made to expand our model inernationally,” said chief executive officer David Ross (pictured).

“During the year we launched Ardonagh International with the creation of Ardonagh Global Partners and Ardonagh Europe. We welcomed colleagues from Australia and the USA and were privileged to end the year with an agreement to acquire MDS Group, a renowned global platform and our largest international acquisition to date.”

Commenting on the outlook, Ross said:  “2021 has laid the foundations for a very exciting period of the Group. We enter 2022 with strength and an abundance of opportunity to consolidate our base in the UK and Ireland, forge new connections across the globe and deepen connections with each other.”

Chairman John Tiner praised the company’s “exceptional progress” in strengthening its position as a leading international insurance intermediary business, despite facing a number of challenges emerging from the external environment.

“The Group has an ambitious programme of growth over the next several years and the stability and quality of our shareholder base, together with our lending partners, provides the foundation for achieving these plans,” Tiner said.

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