Carole Nash owner Groupama UK Broking Services, the rump British presence of French insurance giant Groupama SA , has declared an overall loss of £34m in its 2012 financial year, against a profit of £5.7m in 2011. However, its direct operations still reported a £4.2m profit in the period.
The company attributed this headline loss to issues concerning disposal of large chunks of Groupama UK Broking Services retail assets, when Groupama SA was actively seeking a complete exit from the UK insurance market.
In particular, it cited the sale of Lark Group in August 2012 via a management buy-out. Much of the proceeds were apparently used to clear loans made by the French parent so the Lark deal accounted for an £11.8m book loss. Groupama also sold its Bollington Group general insurance subsidiary through another MBO, completed in February 2013, which reportedly resulted in an impairment of the goodwill.
Announcement of the loss was accompanied by a statement that Groupama SA now intends to retain full ownership of leading specialist motorcycle insurer Carole Nash, as well as general broker Mastercover Insurance Services, for the foreseeable future. Groupama UK also said that, despite the economic climate, it had incurred only a relatively small reduction in broking income from continuing operations.