Howden Group Holdings has announced its financial results for the year ended 30 September 2022.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
Continued exceptional financial performance: driven by record organic growth of 19% (FY 2021: 19%), a 60% increase in revenue to £1,841m (FY 2021: £1,148m), and a 69% increase in EBITDA to £565m (FY 2021: £335m).
Completion of TigerRisk and the signed acquisition of March R.S. (both post period end) takes revenue on a pro forma basis to £2,036m and EBITDA of £648m.
Entrepreneurial talent and client demand delivering unrivalled organic growth: 1,000 new employees (excluding from M&A) joined the Group in 2022. Including M&A, headcount increased by 4,100 with 400 senior practitioners joining over the last 24 months. This demonstrates an ability to attract top talent, with new initiatives contributing 20% of the Group’s organic growth.
£2.9bn of fresh investment into the Group’s unique capital model from long-term equity and debt holders to support the sustainable growth strategy in FY 2022. A further £750m of equity was committed for the TigerRisk acquisition and employee shareholders of businesses joining the Group have reinvested £240m of equity since the start of FY 2022, along with a further 1,000 new employee shareholders, taking the total number to 3,500.
31 completed acquisitions in FY 2022 have transformed Howden’s position in key markets: notably Assiteca, forming the third largest broker in Italy with 20 offices. The completion of Aston Lark in the UK builds on the A-Plan acquisition and takes the total investment in the UK to £2bn in the last 24 months. Howden is ranked by the Employee Ownership Association as the UK’s fifth largest employee-owned business. Align in the US has redefined the reach and access of Howden’s MGA business, creating an international MGA group with over £2.2bn GWP. Additionally, post year end, completing TigerRisk in the US creates a brand new tier one reinsurance broker, and consolidates the Group’s position as a $30bn GWP global insurance intermediary.
New capital solutions and product innovation helping build resilience: launch of Howden CAP in response to market-wide demand for new capital and insurance solutions. Howden continued to develop and launch industry leading climate risk solutions, including the first ever carbon offset insurance product.
Howden Group Foundation, an independent grant-making charity and shareholder in the Group distributed in excess of £1.2m to its global charity partners over the year.
David Howden, CEO, Howden Group commented:
“Howden Group delivered exceptional financial performance in 2022, led by 19% organic growth, an accomplishment that is even more remarkable given it follows the stellar 19% growth in 2021. On a pro forma basis, we have almost doubled our revenue in just 12 months. Howden’s differentiated capital model, blending employee ownership with long-term institutional shareholders continues to provide the business with opportunity, strength and sustainability when it comes to deploying capital. We have welcomed 1,000 new employee shareholders to the Group this year, bringing the total number in the Group to 3,500, alongside the Howden Group Foundation, which is a significant shareholder in the business.
“The combination of Howden and TigerRisk represents the final strategic pillar of our Group architecture, providing a fresh dynamic for clients and a full spectrum offer across insurance, specialty, reinsurance, underwriting, capital markets and advisory. Howden Tiger creates a new force that has long been needed in the reinsurance market, a leader in many high growth specialist areas such as MGAs and Facultative, and critically a massive magnet for talent. Over the last 18 months, we have executed relentlessly on our strategy of building a business for, and over, the long term. We’ve done this by joining with other entrepreneurial companies who want to continue to grow and by attracting and retaining the best talent, all of whom share in our vision and passion.
“We have also established unrivalled reach and expertise in our home broking market of the UK and Ireland, and are a growing force in Europe. Almost half of our 31 acquisitions over the past twelve months were in continental Europe, and most recently that of March R.S. (post period end), reflecting our ambition to create a preeminent broking business of scale in Europe, a region that has long been our heartland. Our position has been cemented globally as the only player with the size, scale and expertise to rival the big three.
“As climate, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty continues, the insurance sector has a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate its value to society. At times like this it’s important that we challenge ourselves to find new ways of helping our clients confront a dynamic and interrelated risk environment, such as our product insuring the authenticity of carbon credits and our work on using insurance to fund disaster relief projects. Our focus on insurance as a force for good, innovation and our entrepreneurial mindset are among the key reasons that more and more clients are turning to Howden.”