South West insurer Cornish Mutual has continued to increase its capital base in the face of tough trading conditions.

Attendees at its annual general meeting yesterday (31 March) heard that in a difficult trading environment for its core rural Members, Cornish Mutual’s focus on price stability and good value insurance has been as important as ever during 2015.

Following significant claims in 2014, a period of relatively benign weather saw the company achieve a technical result of £1346000 (2014 £98000). This when added to a return on investments of £414000 (2014 £1090000) saw the business turn in a profitable performance.

The company made an overall profit after tax of £813,000 (2014: £514,000) and Members’ Funds, the total capital of the company, increased by £674,000 to £20.3m.

The company has continued to invest in its staff to further enhance its service and deliver responsive and expert insurance advice to Members in a straightforward and face to face manner.

In 2015 the rural insurer’s Field Force team visited over 12,000 Members across the South West, a combined travel distance of 240,000 miles and received over 75,000 calls to its Truro headquarters.

Ian Pawley, Cornish Mutual’s chairman, said: “It is important to consider the current year’s financial performance in the context of the long term trends, the pressures facing our rural Members and our strategy for the business.

“Cornish Mutual faces the prospect of lower investment returns than have historically been experienced and the business needs to respond to this changing environment along with the demands of enhanced regulatory responsibilities around management of our capital as mandated by the Solvency II directive.

“It is well known that the agricultural and rural sectors have faced great difficulty in the last year, being affected greatly by the global economy and it is our role to offer support where it’s needed. We take pride in giving an unrivalled personal service to all our Members.

“In this context, our strategy is one of sustainable development, and I believe that the financial results for the year show that we continue to achieve our objectives on behalf of our Members.”

Highlights of the year for the company include its participation in the national Red Nose Day fundraiser, which saw it take part as the sole call centre for the South West. The company was also a finalist in the categories of Best Customer Service Initiative at the Chartered Institute of Insurers Awards; and in the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards. The company’s training and development was again recognised by the Customer Service Training Network (CSTN), winning two awards for its work.

As Cornish Mutual is a mutual organisation all of its 24,000-plus Members from across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset have a right to attend the AGM or vote by proxy on the AGM motions including the election of directors and acceptance of the Directors Report and Statement of Accounts.

In an effort to encourage Member participation Cornish Mutual has said it will give 20p to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Fund (RABI) for every proxy vote cast by a Member either online or by post.

For more information about Cornish Mutual visit www.cornishmutual.co.uk