Brian the Robot helps Admiral defy analysts with some shipshape profits

Admiral, the car-insurance group, has hit a new landmark as the largest toy distributor in South Wales thanks to the success of its Brian the Robot promotion.

More than 200,000 Brians have been sent out to customers buying insurance through its price-comparison website, confused.com, since it launched the promotion early this year.

“Brians are probably not flying off the shelves as fast as meerkats,” admitted chief financial officer Geraint Jones, referring to his arch-rival, comparethemarket.com, “but in a fearsome market Brian is helping us to fight back.”

Admiral cheered investors today, reporting a 1% rise in first-half profits to £186 million when most analysts had been predicting a modest fall.

The improvement came largely through the UK car-insurance business which increased operating profits by 6% to £219 million.

By contrast, the price-comparison businesses swung from profits of £5.9 million to losses of £4 million reflecting increased spending on the new US website and lower profits at confused.com in part due to the costs of the Brian the Robot promotion.

Outgoing boss Henry Engelhardt, who leaves in May, called it: “A good start to a challenging year. Profits are up, customer numbers are up, earnings per share is up, the dividend is up... you might say it was a pretty ‘up’ first half!”