By Greg Wright

Published 4th Apr 2023, 10:10 BST

The company said a competitive motor insurance market and regulatory changes had hit both its home and car insurance businesses. Both sales and the price at which Saga sells insurance have been affected, it said.

It led to Saga taking a £269m impairment to the goodwill in its insurance business, pushing the company deep into a loss.

Before tax Saga made a loss of £254.2m in the year to the end of January, up from £23.5m the year before, it revealed on Tuesday.

Saga, which offers products and services for the over-50s, said its losses increased more than tenfold last year as it took a major one-off hit to its insurance business.

Without the impairment and other one-off costs the business swung from a £6.7m loss in the previous year to a profit of £21.5m in the latest 12-month period.

Chief executive Euan Sutherland said: “Over the past year, through what continued to be a particularly challenging external backdrop, Saga made progress against its strategy while achieving significant revenue growth and returning to underlying profit.

“Our insurance underwriting business took pricing action to reflect the rise in claims inflation, while our insurance broking business navigated a challenging landscape, adjusting to significant regulatory changes and increased competitive pressure.”

Saga’s cruise business had fared better as it bounced back from the pandemic, Mr Sutherland said.

Its ocean cruises saw revenue more than double to £168.3m and filled 75 per cent of their available places, up seven percentage points from the year before.

The smaller river cruises section of the business is expected to return to profit this year, the company said.

Mr Sutherland said: “Our ocean cruise business continued to see strong customer demand and bookings for 2023/24 are on track to meet our targets.

“In travel, bookings are significantly ahead of the same point last year and that business will return to profit this year.

“We also took a number of key steps to reposition the business, consistent with the strategy we set out 12 months ago to create ‘The Superbrand’ for older people.”

Saga can trace its roots back to the 1950s, when Sidney and Margery De Haan launched a travel company offering affordable off-peak UK holidays exclusively to retired people. The company played a major role in developing the tourism industry in the Algarve in the 1960s and its first cruise was sold in 1973.. Long haul holidays were introduced by Saga in the 1980s. In 1996, its first cruise ship, Saga Rose, was purchased and entered service the same year.

Saga sees cruise business bounce back, but losses jump amid insurance hit