Vista records £5m jump in sales

Vista Insurance Brokers, which has an office in Lancaster, has recorded a 32.7 per cent increase in annuall turnover, up from £15.6M to £20.7M.

The accounting year, which ran until July 2021, included the Covid-19 pandemic and the Brexit fallout which continues to impact businesses, increasing uncertainty and risk. A further challenge has been the ‘hard market’ conditions for insurance buyers, that has seen pricing pushed higher and insurers’ appetite and capacity to write risk become severely restricted.

The Lancaster office, based at White Cross Business Park, contributed to the overall growth figure with an 11 per cent increase in turnover.

A core focus for the team, headed up by Kevin Stephenson, is the hospitality sector which has experienced significant disruption due to Covid-19 restrictions. Being based in the region has enabled Vista to have a team on the ground, providing a personal service and ongoing support along with market leading products throughout this challenging period.

Plans are already in place to increase the team as they expect further growth in the region of 15 per cent during the next 12 months.

The company as a whole, with its head office in Manchester and regional offices in Birmingham and London, hopes to achieve £50m turnover in the next five years.

Gavin Ruben, Vista chief executive, said: "As the pandemic hit in 2020, we responded quickly and ensured our clients were able to adapt their policies as required. The hospitality and event sectors were hit very hard and our commitment to ensuring high levels of client service saw us proactively contacting clients to provide much needed support.

"Our Corporate, Construction and Private Equity divisions have all faced diverse challenges and the experience and expertise of these teams enabled us to respond quickly and effectively. As premiums increased across a wide range of business sectors, we saw an increase in new clients looking to us to help, as they sought not only the most cost-effective policies but a team with the necessary knowledge and experience to help them navigate their way through this challenging period.

"Whist some businesses in our sector have been forced to make staff redundant, we have been able to hire more people, boosting our capability to provide clients with high levels of personal service and expertise in a range of sector specialisms."

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