According to the ASX200 listed group, the 50.3% jump in its reported NPAT attributable to ordinary shareholders was partly due to strong underlying organic growth, primarily in broking in Australia. Profit on the sale of Altius Group Holdings was also a main contributor.

AUB Group’s Australian broking operations posted a 21.8% increase in underlying pre-tax profit, while the now stand-alone operating division BizCover enjoyed a 190% surge in underlying pre-tax profit. The Australian agencies business also saw a higher (by 13.9%) result.

The New Zealand operating division, meanwhile, took a hit, with underlying pre-tax profit down 13.2%. AUB Group attributed the decrease to the impact of a change in accounting treatment of software-as-a-service (SaaS) costs. Pre-tax result would have been up 3.6% without the SaaS adjustment.

“The transformation of AUB Group has continued at pace during FY21,” noted Emmett. “Our exit from health and rehabilitation services is complete; the performance improvement in Austbrokers has accelerated; BizCover continues to grow both revenue and profit at an impressive rate; [and] the remediation of agencies is starting to deliver results with both margin and profit improvement during the period.

“We are, however, far from done. Our New Zealand operations are still in the early stages of transformation, running until FY23. We have restructured key elements of the New Zealand business, have a technology investment underway, and plan a series of acquisitions to grow scale in agencies and enhance broking product and geographic capability.”

The group – which consists of insurance brokers and underwriting agencies operating in about 500 locations across Australia and New Zealand – also announced a fully franked final dividend of 39 cents per share payable on October 11.