Profile: Peter Hubbard

MOST gardeners’ work is only admired by their nearest and dearest.

Peter Hubbard’s garden in the Cotswolds recently secured a following worthy of a minor boy band.

Altogether, a staggering 538 people visited Mr Hubbard’s garden in the space of four hours. The chink of tea cups must have been deafening. He opened it to the public as part of a project organised by the National Gardens Scheme, which shows off private gardens that deserve a wider audience.

In his latest role, as chief executive of Leeds-based UK General Insurance, he’s involved in a very different kind of nurturing. He’s a “leader of change” who is restructuring and bolstering a business which is keeping Britain’s horse lovers happy. In insurance, fortune, it seems, favours specialists who stay market-focused. His love of gardening provides a clue about what makes him tick.

“My grandfathers were both avid gardeners, although their love for it was mainly driven by a desire to eat home-grown fresh vegetables,’’ he recalled.

“I was given a patch of garden when I was five and have never grown tired of the excitement of planting something so small, that turns into something so beautiful.

“I’m not a good artist, and I’m not musical, but designing and growing are where my creative talents lie. When people came in through the garden gate and went ‘wow’ that was something very special.

“We live in an amazing world where communication is instant, it’s a bit frenetic. The spinning top seems to spin ever faster.

“The really great bit about the garden is that it goes at its own pace. I’ve no control over it whatsoever.

“Sometimes it’s great to sit back and look at the reality of the fact that life doesn’t have to be quite so frantic.”

If you study Mr Hubbard’s CV, however, it’s clear that he’s never let the grass grow under his feet.

His concern for the natural world is deep-rooted. He was one of the driving forces behind the creation of Climatewise, a UK insurance body dealing with climate change, which is supported by the Prince of Wales.

He’s certainly unafraid to implement radical changes in response to market conditions.

A physics graduate who trained as a chartered accountant, he joined Lloyds Bank where he became involved in the acquisition of Abbey Life.

He recalled: “I’m afraid insurance found me, but since that time in 1989 I’ve never looked back.”

He’s probably best known for leading the remarkable turnaround of Axa Insurance. When he became the company’s chief executive in 2001, it was generating losses of around £200m a year. By 2006, it had delivered a post-tax profit of £150m.

This transformation can’t have been painless. Staff numbers fell from 5,500 to 3,600, and Mr Hubbard sold off loss-making businesses, while acquiring a fast-growing direct sales company, Swiftcover. Under his watch, Axa Insurance achieved the largest growth of any insurer of comparable size in the UK. It was all part of a process of “restructuring for growth”, which included reducing the computer systems from 13 to two.

He left Axa in 2008 and, after four years of consultancy work, he joined UK General as executive chairman and then became its group chief executive in 2012. If you’ll pardon the continued boy band analogy, UK General is still something of a new kid on the block, following its formation through the merger of PBS Holdings and the Longhawk Insurance Group in 2010.

It’s becoming harder to make a profit selling standard insurance products, so UK General has achieved growth by focusing on specialist areas, including agriculture. The company has also moved into equine, pollution and “non-standard” motor insurance. UK General is rapidly growing its market share.

Last year, shortly after he was appointed, Mr Hubbard confirmed that Rural Insurance, the specialist agricultural arm of UK General, was on track to double in size by 2015 and become a top three player in its sector. All this growth is set to create jobs in Yorkshire.

“Many people don’t want to work in London,” said Mr Hubbard. “We have no problems recruiting in the Leeds market. We have got almost 260 people in our offices in Leeds and Harrogate. Our headcount will expand in 2013 and 2014.

“We’ve also got quite a number of apprentices in our business, which we think is really important for the local community and the development of the business. It’s a real win-win.”

Intriguingly, Mr Hubbard said UK General was planning to launch another business, but he couldn’t reveal details.

“The opportunities for developing new business areas are more likely to be organic than a massive acquisition,” he added.

“We’ve found that the development of a new business organically, with a new team, has proved a really good route for us.”

But, given the intense competition, how can UK General stand out from its rivals?

“It’s really all just about three things: being a leading provider of specialist insurance products; striving always to give the best customer service in everything we do, and having great people,” he said. “We will grow across all areas of our business as the whole UK insurance market looks to improve margins. Being a specialist in every part of our business improves our ability to support those parts of the market that are growing.

“You might think that being on an industrial park is a disadvantage, but we have found that we can get some highly talented people working for us. Although I’ve personally spent most of my career working in The City of London, where I’m a Freeman, there are some amazingly talented people in and around Leeds, and we benefit from the fact that it’s a vibrant city surrounded by beautiful countryside.

“Our plans are to grow the business substantially, although I’m not one to be pinned down by targets. Things can change in business,” he said.

“We want to build on where we are now: deepen the relationships we have with existing customers and develop new customers. We will only deliver this by having motivated and enthusiastic people who themselves are driven to succeed.

“We will extend the range of products and services we offer, always though, as specialists. We will invest in new business ventures, such as our investment in UK Warranty.”

Durham-based UK Warranty is a joint venture between UK General and the service and support provider Pacifica Group, which provides warranty for a host of goods including computers, gadgets and domestic appliances.

“We will continually strive to offer service that beats our competitors,” said Mr Hubbard. “That sounds simple. But it means everything we do every day has to be customer focused.”

Peter Hubbard Factfile

Name: Peter Hubbard

Title: Chief executive, UK General Insurance, which has bases in Leeds and Harrogate. It is the combined business of PBS Holdings and the Longhawk Insurance Group.

Education: BSc Hons Bristol University, Fca (Institute of Chartered Accountants)

First job: My first job was stacking shelves at Keymarkets

Favourite holiday destination: Maldives

Favourite song: Barry White – You’re The First, The Last, My Everything

Last book read: Ben Elton – Two Brothers

Car driven: Audi A5 Cabriolet

What is the thing you are most proud of? Cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats (978 miles) in 12 days.