RFIB unveils 'strategic review' to capitalise on Lloyd's developments

RFIB chief executive Jonathan Turnball hailed “a transformational period” for the broker after it posted an increase in revenue to £41.4m for the 2013 financial year, up slightly from £41.1m for the previous twelve months.

On a pro-forma twelve month basis RFIB's Ebitda was flat at £3.5m (FY 2012: £3.5m).

However, profit before tax increased from £1.3m for the twelve months ended 31 December 2012 to £4.3m for the year ended 2013.

In conjunction with the results, the broker said it had appointed Fenchurch Advisory Partners to undertake a strategic review of the group's positioning.

It will explore "the full range of options" so as to enable the group to take maximum advantage of developments in the Lloyd's and international insurance markets.

Turnbull said the previous 18 months had been "a transformational period for RFIB".

He said: "I am delighted that in a difficult market we maintained profitability whilst we have completed an extensive programme of investment, divestment and internal restructuring, implementing a range of initiatives that are already beginning to have a positive impact on the business and I believe will facilitate our significant expansion.

"We continue to build a terrific team and attract high calibre candidates including the appointment of Richard Boughton as our new managing director for our North America division. We have also strengthened our Middle East capability in Riyadh and Dubai and continued to expand our global office network with the establishment of our new operations in Durban, the first RFIB office in Africa."

Despite the persistent soft market conditions, Turnball said he remained "confident about RFIB's prospects for future growth based on an increased focus on speciality lines of business, backed by a scalable efficient administrative platform, supported by a strong governance and internal control framework".