£3,000 share payout for all employees at insurance firm Admiral

Employees at Cardiff-based insurer Admiral will receive windfall of £3,000 worth of free shares, after profits shot up 24% to £182m.

More than 2,200 staff at the firm will share about 310,000 free shares based on second-half results for 2007.

In September, the car insurance group handed out a share windfall worth £3m to staff as it posted a 26% leap in half-year profits for the first half of the year.

Henry Engelhardt, group chief executive, said: “We had a bumper year in absolute terms and we made great strides towards the creation of an even better future. In the UK, our car insurance business grew substantially.”