![Ryan Brown, Chief Financial Officer, PIB Group Limited Ryan-Brown,-Chief-Financial-Officer,-PIB-Group-Limited](https://youtalk-insurance.com/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image_shrink_fit/public/ryan_brown_chief_financial_officer_pib_group_limited.jpg?itok=AdsWxW6Q)
PIB Group financial highlights for the year ended 31/12/21
- Revenue of £230.9m, an increase of 52% on 2020
- Adjusted EBITDA1 of £67.0m, an increase of 78% on 2020
- Adjusted EBITDA of £77.7m on a run-rate basis
- EBITDA margin of 29% (34% on a run-rate basis)
Business Highlights
We operate in a dynamic and everchanging market with the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and regulatory change in the UK highlighting just some of the challenges which the insurance industry has had to face. The continued strong underlying performance of the Group is testament to the quality and resilience of our people but, also the continued resilience of the wider insurance market. 2021 was another year of living with the Covid pandemic and we saw it have a severe impact on many families and businesses. As a Group, we remained committed and able to continue to provide a level of support to our employees and customers which would help them come through this prolonged period of worry and uncertainty.
The strength of the underlying business through this period also gave the Group the confidence to continue its investment to help drive significant growth. Therefore, the year saw PIB make further strong progress in its ambition to be one of the Europe’s leading diversified and specialist insurance intermediaries.
- The Group operates a programmatic Mergers & Acquisitions consolidation programme, focusing on businesses that operate in niche segments, are “famous for something” and demonstrate attractive organic growth dynamics and additional product specialism. In pursuit of this strategy the Group completed eight acquisitions through the course of 2021 and signed a number of others which completed in early 2022.
- Although much of PIB’s growth has been driven by the acquisition of high quality and specialist insurance distribution businesses, the Group is not wholly reliant on acquisition led growth. 2021 saw the Group attract a number of high-quality teams and individuals with a strong focus and track record of organic growth. The Group saw the number of employees reach 1,826, an increase of 38% over the prior year.
- PIB’s international expansion plans continued at pace through 2021. An International Division was created which comprises a number of businesses spread across Europe. Each of these are highly specialist businesses with long term growth potential, offer a regional consolidation opportunity to build scale in other countries much as PIB has already done in the UK or, a combination of both. This Division covers retail, wholesale, reinsurance and MGAs, with a presence in Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain, and with other countries in the pipeline.
- The Group secured a majority investment from funds advised by Apax Partners alongside a minority reinvestment by The Carlyle Group. With the support of several lenders, both existing and new, the Group refinanced its original term loan facility and raised an additional committed acquisition facility during the course of the year, taking the Group’s total potential borrowings to in excess of £1,103m (2020 £474m).
- The Group appointed a Head of Data with the aim of leveraging our data to support clients and drive growth. This appointment has seen the Group step up its investment in data science and analysis roles and capabilities and we are already starting to benefit from the initial successes of our first Artificial Intelligence and Robotics projects.
- The PIB Community Trust was set up following a commitment by the PIB board to contribute a share of revenues to charitable causes. The Trust operates at arm’s length from the business under a board of trustees, assisted by a team of employee volunteers, and with support from the Charities Aid Foundation. All donations are to those causes suggested by the Group’s employees, corporate donations, Group donations and various initiatives. The Trust’s first year of operation in 2021 has helped embed charitable giving as a core part of PIB’s approach to community engagement.
Chief Financial Officer Ryan Brown commented:
“The 2021 financial year was a defining year for PIB Group. Amidst a number of challenges which emerged from the external environment PIB delivered an exceptional financial performance and made significant progress in internationalizing the Group with the acquisition of a number of highly specialist businesses spread across Europe. We are also immensely proud to have received a resounding endorsement of our business model by securing a new equity investment from funds managed by Apax Partners and a reinvestment by The Carlyle Group.
The increasing diversification of our business across both distribution channels and geographies, along with our entrepreneurial model, is enabling us to attract high quality individuals, who are attracted by the opportunity to be empowered to build their careers and a business together. It is this continued ability to attract, develop and empower talent, as well as a constant focus on specialist products and capabilities, and our investment in technology and data that is the real driving force of our results, and the bed rock of our long-term organic performance demonstrated by organic growth of 12% in 2021.
As a Group we remain laser focused on our ambition to create one of Europe’s leading independent diversified specialist insurance intermediaries. I remain confident that the ever-increasing strength of our infrastructure and platforms, along with the exceptional expertise and commitment of our people, the strength of relationships with insurer partners and incredible support from our capital providers, will ensure that we are able to support our clients, adapt to changing market dynamics and remain capable of driving significant growth both this year and into the future.”