More is Moore

Moorhouse Group chairman Lyndon Wood founded the group 15 years ago, at the age of 19. Since then the group has enjoyed rapid year-on-year growth. It now employs more than 80 people and has an offshore outsourcing arrangement in India, which employs an additional 50 people.

Wood says: "The first 12 months were difficult - it is hard to persuade insurers to give you an agency in a hard market when you have little experience, are 19 years old and working from your two-bedroom house in Caerphilly, South Wales. But, since then, we have grown every year and do not get affected by market cycles."

The Moorhouse Group underwrites for many insurance companies through its Moorhouse Liability, Moorhouse Vaninsure, Moorhouse Retail and Moorhouse Xbroker brands and has 12 delegated authority schemes. Its core market is the micro-SMEs - those with up to 10 employees - for which it provides liability insurances and packaged products.

The Moorhouse Group's IT systems have been developed in-house and have evolved as the business has grown. It is currently developing its online proposition, which it aims to have in place in the next 12 months.

Wood says: "We did not experience problems becoming Financial Service Authority compliant as we are systems-driven. Most of our policies are simple questions and answers, and we already had a large number of the requirements in place. Although it is a timely and costly exercise - there is a lot more paper coming out of the printer, for example."

The Indian outsourcing operation has proved to be a cost-effective way of generating new commercial and liability insurance leads that are fed back and processed at its Caerphilly office.

Wood says: "Our Indian call centre is generating a huge number of leads and has trebled the size of our database. The skills available among the workforce in India are perfect for lead generation, whereas the skills of employees in the UK are more suited to managing these leads and turning them into profitable long-term business."

Although Wood refused to name the outsourcing partner - as it is commercially sensitive information - he said he is happy with the arrangement so far.

He is keen to point out that he has not taken jobs from South Wales to India, but that the outsourced operation has created the need for more employees at its Caerphilly office. He also says there have not been any problems with language or cultural differences, as the Indian workforce were carefully selected and all calls are scripted.

Moorhouse is currently in the process of a £1.5m expansion plan, which will add an additional 8500 square feet of office space to its existing office. The new building is due to be completed by September and will allow for the recruitment of around 50 new employees by the end of 2005.

The group is currently recruiting new staff and recently set up a new marketing department to service and promote new business generated by its Indian call centre.

Wood says: "One of the most enjoyable aspects of the job is seeing young peoples' careers and personalities develop. The group offers its employees an extensive training programme with both in-house and online learning. All new employees undergo a six-week induction programme on commencement of employment and all employees have a career path with opportunities to progress."

Despite its success, Wood says he is not keen to start acquiring brokers or to replicate its business model in other regions of the UK as it has more than enough to be going on with.

Wood says: "We do not have any plans for acquisitions. We are growing rapidly through organic growth and do not feel the need to acquire. We also have a great office in a great location in South Wales and have an infrastructure in place to keep growing and growing."

MOORHOUSE GROUP

Chairman: Lyndon Wood

Established: 1990

Number of offices: one

Location: Caerphilly, South Wales

Number of staff: 86

Lines of business: mainly micro-commercial and some connected personal

Gross premium income £18m.