AN INSURANCE company which employes more than 300 people in Newport announced record profits yesterday.

Cardiff-based Admiral Group said it made a gross profit before tax of £126.9 million in the six months to the end of June 2010 – 21 per cent up on the same period the year before.

Its turnover also rose by 33 per cent to £720.5 million, while its number of customers rose by 23 per cent to 2.37 million.

The company, which owns insurers Admiral, comparison website Confused.com, and Elephant.co.uk, among other businesses, employs 354 people in its Newport office at Langstone Business Park.

Currently the Newport-base acts as a call centre primarily for their claims department, although a small sales team has also opened in the city.

A spokesman for the firm they hope to have up to 450 people working at the site in the near future.

The group’s chief executive said Henry Engelhardt said: “2010 is shaping up to be a year of great opportunity and I’m extremely proud of how everyone at Admiral has stepped up to the challenge.”

He said their car insurance companies in Britain were the “driving force” behind the business, with premium rates going up by 14 per cent in the first half of the year.

However the firm said its operations outside of the UK, as well as its Confused.com price comparison site, were not performing as well.

It said it still had work to do to build a profitable and sustainable insurance business in Spain, while it is planning to launch an insurance operation in France.