Editor's letter: Howden has a plan, but that does not involve ‘A-Plan’

On 2 October, all A-Plan branches were re-skinned with the Howden branding, with the former 60-year-old name consigned to the insurance cemetery.

When these things happen, it is not hard to feel a little bit sad/nostalgic, especially more so here given what the A-Plan branding has stood for, for so long.

A high-street survivor in an age when so many other names were disappearing whether it was AA Insurance or Hill House Hammond, Colonnade or Budget, Arnott or Swinton, A-Plan bucked the trend, growing its branch network and doing things unapologetically different.

That strategy has stood the test of time from the Equistone [Barclays Private Equity] deal, which valued the firm at £150m in April 2008, to it changing hands at the end of 2014 to Hg Capital.

Growth period

During that period it grew from 54 to 73 branches, which, while not dramatic, was significant given what was going on elsewhere.

By the time Howden took ownership of A-Plan in September 2020 the business had hit a century of branches, having sought to speed up its growth trajectory by buying Endsleigh from Zurich (March 2018) and the majority of Jelf’s personal lines business (October 2018) adding 26 branches.

It is critical that we have the right structure in place so we are aligned as one to harness our collective power, protect our culture, and to ensure we face our clients and markets as one business.

David Howden

Which brings us to today and the fact its new parent has its own long-term ambitions, which do not include a multi-brand strategy, but a collective ‘one Howden’ approach, whether that is selling motor insurance in Wimbledon, or a wide-reaching insurance programme to FTSE 250 firms.

One business

Or, as group CEO David Howden said in May: “As we begin the next phase of our growth, it is critical that we have the right structure in place so we are aligned as one to harness our collective power, protect our culture, and to ensure we face our clients and markets as one business.”

So farewell A-Plan – a brand from an age when being at the front of the Yellow Pages mattered.

And it may not be the last well-known name to head to the brand mortuary as we wait to see what decision Intact and RSA make over NIG when that deal completes, and Markerstudy CEO Kevin Spencer openly admitting that, together with Atlanta, it has too many brands and will look to rationalise that portfolio too.

The gravediggers at the insurance cemetery could have a busy few months ahead of them.