Written on 30 August, 2021

When AUB Group presented its yearly results, CEO Mike Emmett (pictured) said the figures can’t tell you everything.

“Numbers only tell a portion of the story but in this case our record results do indicate a group of people who are delighting our customers,” he said.

AUB Group’s FY21 results included revenue growth of 11.6%, NPAT growth of 25.7% and total dividends of 55 cents per share, an increase of 10% on last year.

Read more: AUB Group publishes FY21 financial results

It was clearly a portion of the story Emmett was very happy about.

“This is the highest growth rate and underlying net profit after tax that AUB Group’s achieved since our listing on the ASX in 2005. I say that, not to brag, but rather to reflect and acknowledge everything that our teams our achieving,” he said.

AUB Group is one of Australasia’s largest broker and underwriting agencies with over 3,000 members and more than 850,000 clients.

Emmett sketched the company’s main strategic moves this year including the completion of the exit from health and rehabilitation services, performance improvements at Austbrokers and the restructuring of the New Zealand side of the business.

He also outlined the company’s main investments over the last two years and why they made them.

“BizCover, for their dominant position in the micro and small SME segment and their market leading technology platform,” he said. “360 Underwriting to form the cornerstone of our drive to grow our general commercial agencies.”

Emmett described his company’s approach as evolution, not revolution.

“We’re evolving the metric, optimizing it to grow, to improve margin and to reduce risk while also enabling us to meet the growth ambitions of our partners,” he said.

The arguable star of the presentation was BizCover.

“BizCover continues to grow both revenue and profit at an impressive rate,” said Emmett.

BizCover revenue grew by 34% compared to the period before AUB’s investment in February 2020, he said.

The CEO said part of BizCover’s success was due to leveraging data and technology to better target and segment clients and portfolios.

“Several initiatives have been implemented by BizCover to continue their strong performance including the imminent launch of Blaze, a fully re-platformed version of the BizCover technology and a new referral portal to partner with professional advisory firms,” he said.

Emmett believes FY22 will be another year of solid growth.

“We anticipate underlying net profit after tax in FY22 of between $70 million and $73 million representing growth on continuing operations of 15.7% to 20.7%.”

However, he said, those continuing operations exclude JobKeeper receipts and profits from the now-disposed Altius Group.

Insurance Business Australia | 27 Aug 2021 | Read article