Dickson & Co eager to double business and keep expanding

Dickson director Gavin Mitchell told Insurance Age that the broker would acquire more businesses in 2022 as well as recruit more people for its growing commercial team.

Dickson & Co is hungry for growth as it draws up plans to double its income in the next five years and buy more businesses.

Gavin Mitchell, who joined the company as director in late 2020, told Insurance Age that the broker would be acquiring more in the coming months, adding that he was optimistic for the year ahead.

Commenting on the recent deal the company managed to seal with Morrison Associates earlier this week, he said that the business would help strengthen and consolidate the Dickson brand and expand its footprint across the region.

He confirmed that all staff would be kept and that there were no changes being made to Morrison Associates’ brand or location of its office.

Expansion

Dickson currently has seven offices scattered across Northern Ireland, and three years ago, the broker also bought Gunn Robinson Brokers in County Meath, in the Republic of Ireland, which helped solve the problems posed by post-Brexit trading.

Mitchell explained: “We sought to overcome the challenges that we had with Brexit by buying a business in the south of Ireland. We trade quite significantly in the South, so the purchase of the business in County Meath allowed us to find our resolution to that, but it’s also given us a great foothold in the market.”

The Dickson director revealed that the business is planning to open a second office in the Republic of Ireland this year.

In 2021, Dickson also expanded to the Midlands, an area which it finds “promising”.

“We’re testing the GB market to understand the opportunity that’s over there and that’s currently starting to show some really encouraging signs,” Mitchell continued.

Pandemic

According to Mitchell, the broker didn’t struggle over the past year despite the problems posed by the hard market and the pandemic. In fact, it managed to grow its commercial lines business by 14%.

He detailed: “The pandemic didn’t slow us down, the commercial side of the business grew, we spent a lot of time with the clients helping them understand the scope of their BI cover and whether they did and didn’t have the cover. Most of them have weathered the storm and continued to trade.

“We trade across all sectors, we’ve got dedicated teams that specialise in motorsport, farm business, commercial SMEs and non-standard motor as well as personal lines teams, there aren’t too many risks that we can’t place, even in a hard market.”

Team

Dickson currently has a team of 100 members across all offices and is on the lookout to recruit staff to help grow its commercial business.

Having joined the family-owned business in 2020, Mitchell describes his time with as business as “hugely refreshing.”

He explained: “I come from a very corporate background where decision making involves a chain a people, so being an independent broker means that we can be a lot more agile and responsive.

“It’s hugely refreshing to be able to respond quickly, that’s something I’ve never been used to with the background that I’ve had. Ashley Dickson started the business 30 years ago and runs it with his wife, Ruth Dickson. It’s a family affair because their four sons are involved in the business as well.

“I think there are increasingly few brokers who can say they are genuinely independent. We go above and beyond for the clients we have.”

Growth

Going forward, Mitchell said the business was focused on growth, both organic and through acquisitions, targeting brokers with a good quality business and an established reputation in the community.

He detailed: “We have a five-year plan in place which will double the size of the business and that will be a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.

Acquisitions will definitely get momentum in 2022 and not just in Northern Ireland.”

He further noted that he was seeking to grow the company’s gross written premium (GWP) to £50m as part as the company’s five-year plan.

“I think the business has grown every single year for the past 30 years, and we’ve got no reason to see why 2022 is going to be any different,” he concluded.

Credit insuranceage.co.uk