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The Motor and Home insurance products insurer today reported a third quarter trading update. Gross written premiums Year-To-Date grew to £430.5 million (YTD Q3 2014: £410.0m), with Motor gross written premiums of £364.1 million (YTD Q3 2014: £343.8m) and Home gross written premiums of £66.4 million (YTD Q3 2014: £66.2m). Total In-force policies rose to 1.991 million for the quarter period (Q3 2014: 1.954 million), whilst management pointed to a "strong" group financial position.
The Chief Executive commented:
"We have continued to grow gross written premiums in Q3 through a combination of positive rating actions and footprint expansion initiatives in Motor and Home. In Motor, as indicated at the time of our half year results, we have implemented further rate increases in Q3 with year-on-year increases now broadly in line with claims inflation. In Home, the market remains competitive.
The return of Gio Compario in Gocompare's advertising has already had a positive impact on its revenue in the third quarter and we have continued to invest in the business for the future.
In light of the volatile investment markets seen during Q3, we now expect to achieve a gross investment return in the region of 1% for the full year. We continue to expect our 2015 combined operating ratio to be in the region of 96% to 97%, assuming normal weather for the remainder of the year." The combined operating ratio expresses the sum of incurred losses and operating expenses measured as a percentage of earned premium, and is a key measure of underwriting profitability. Conventionally, a lower combined ratio is better.
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