Burns & Wilcox looks towards M&As, recruitment and online SMEs to bolster growth plans

In 2022, Stuart Kilpatrick, CEO of Burns & Wilcox (pictured), told Insurance Age that the MGA was on course towards doubling its business, and it would get there by the end of 2022.

However, due to inflation and supply chain issues, this week Kilpatrick admitted that the company did not achieve quite what it wanted, but expects the business to ‘definitely’ double this year.

Getting what we want versus the availability of talented people has been a difficult balance to achieve. Recruitment challenges have been felt all across the sector.

Stuart Kilpatrick

Kilpatrick added: “In all honesty, we didn’t reach where we wanted to at the end of last year for numerous reasons that were felt across the industry. But we will definitely get there this year if nothing else impacts us.

“If you look at it from a claims perspective, there have been issues with supply chains and inflation, meaning customers waiting a long time for remediation.

“Getting a contractor on site has also been an issue that has caused knock-on effects. There was more competition as well [for labour and resources], and I think there will be more to come.”

Kilpatrick stressed other issues included an increase in pure pricing [on top of inflation], although he added that with more capacity coming through this might start to subside.

New offering and recruitment

Despite the industry challenges, he detailed how Burns & Wilcox has continued to grow highlighting its new healthcare product as an important new offering.

Kilpatrick added that there is another product in the pipeline, which will be released in the next few weeks.

He detailed that the MGA is also trying to expand its team despite recruitment not being easy.

“We are trying to grow in terms of people and it has been challenging. Getting what we want versus the availability of talented people has been a difficult balance to achieve,” he said.

“So, our solution is to potentially grow more of our own talent, maybe looking at graduates or A-Level students, and promote the benefits of our industry to them. I don’t think we are alone with this issue; recruitment challenges have been felt all across the sector.”

Consolidation

Consolidation is on the radar too for the CEO and he is focusing on potential acquisitions in 2023.

We are trying to build a pipeline of other MGAs that would be the right fit for us.

Stuart Kilpatrick

He added: “Growth comes in different ways; so we have our organic growth, including adding to our team.

“But we are also on the look out for acquisitions. We are trying to build a pipeline of other MGAs that would be the right fit for us.”

Another focus for Burns & Wilcox is SMEs, and creating an online platform to deal with a smaller business.

Kilpatrick concluded: “If we can get the online platform up and running and into a space that works, that to me opens up a whole area that we haven’t traded in before.

“So, there is a real focus to try and get that working because that allows us to consider affinity or schemes business, and then we can go and have conversations with our broker base and see how we can help out.”

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