BP Marsh flags year of strong portfolio performance
By Josh White
Date: Tuesday 24 Feb 2026
(Sharecast News) - BP Marsh reported a year of strong portfolio performance for the 12 months ended 31 January on Tuesday, completing two disposals that generated £30.7m of upfront proceeds and increasing shareholder distributions, while remaining debt-free.
Group funds stood at £49.5m at the end of the year, compared with £74.1m a year earlier and £52.6m on 31 July.
During the year, the company realised £30.7m from the disposals of Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting and Sterling Insurance, having invested £1.9m of capital in those assets.
It invested £37.8m into the portfolio, including £27.8m in eight new investments and £10.0m of follow-on funding.
The AIM-traded firm said the loan portfolio increased to £40.8m from £27.6m as at 31 January.
It said the October disposal of Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting to Ryan Specialty delivered an internal rate of return of 89.9%.
The June sale of Sterling Insurance to ATC Insurance Solutions generated an internal rate of return of 8.8%, with BP Marsh taking equity consideration that lifted its holding in ATC from 25.6% to 27%.
New investments during the year included a £10m subscription for an 8% stake in iO Finance Partners, a £10m investment in Oneglobal Broking via cumulative convertible preferred shares equating to 10% on a fully diluted basis, and a £5.3m preferred share investment in Sodalis Capital alongside Alliant Insurance Services.
The group also acquired stakes in Cameron Specialty, Amiga Speciality Holdings and Salus Capital Partners, and committed funding to Gambit Risk Finance and XPT Producer Acquisition Co to support expansion initiatives.
Follow-on funding included a £5.5m increase in its stake in Pantheon Specialty Group to 39% and additional loan funding to support Pantheon's acquisition activity in Asia.
The company paid £8m in dividends in the 2026 financial year, equivalent to 21.64p per share, double the £4m paid in 2025.
It announced an interim dividend of 6.98p per share, totalling £2.5m, and a special dividend of 22.33p per share, totalling £8m, both payable early in the new 2027 financial period.
A final dividend of £2.5m was intended for 2027, bringing total planned distributions for the year to £13m.
The board also signalled an intention to pay dividends of no less than £5m in 2028, subject to review.
During 2026, the company repurchased 277,583 shares for £1.9m at an average price of 676.7p, to be held in treasury.
The group reported receiving 67 new business enquiries during the year, up from 63 in 2025, and said it was currently assessing nine prospective opportunities aligned with its focus on insurance and financial intermediary businesses.
Looking ahead, BP Marsh said it was continuing to monitor downward pressure on reinsurance pricing and accelerating consolidation across the insurance market, but believed fee- and commission-based revenues in specialist segments provided resilience.
The company said it would announce its audited results for the year ended 31 January on 27 May.
At 1217 GMT, shares in BP Marsh & Partners were up 2.28% at 685.3p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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