Quindell a driving force

The proof was in the pudding with adjusted cash profit more than doubling to £138m and adjusted EPS jumping 75 per cent to 2.54p last year. Broker Cenkos said the result was ahead of forecast and upgraded its 2014 adjusted EPS estimate by 8 per cent to 3.85p. That implies a hefty rate of earnings growth this year and the broker expects similarly strong growth the following year with 5.4p of earnings pencilled in for 2015. The broker also raised its fair value for the shares to 86p from 80p.

The services division, which is involved in more than a quarter of all UK auto insurance claims, secured new contracts representing around £450m of additional annual revenue last year. The solutions division, which is a market leader in insurance claims technology, had an equally busy year expanding into North America and further developing its ‘black box’ telematics offering. Quindell has high hopes for its black box technology, which feeds driving information back to the insurer and so allows good drivers to benefit from lower premiums.

With wind in its sails, Quindell is now preparing to move to a full listing before the FTSE indices review in June at which time the company expects to join either the FTSE 250 or potentially even the FTSE 100 if its market capitalisation is large enough. Nothing if not ambitious, Quindell says it is also considering a North American listing once the UK full listing beds down.