Shares in Admiral Group were down on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading after the insurance company reported a rise in turnover and pre-tax profit in the full year ended 31 December 2010.

Turnover increased 47 per cent to £1.58 billion while pre-tax profit rose 23 per cent to a record £266 million. Turnover from its Non-UK car insurance business soared 64 per cent to £78 million, while Non-UK car insurance customer numbers rose 61 per cent to 195,000.

Admiral said that overall customer numbers grew 32 per cent to 2.75 million.

Following the results Admiral announced that it would be raising its final dividend from 57.5 pence per share to 68.1 pence per share.

Henry Engelhardt, Chief Executive of Admiral, said, "For the seventh consecutive year, indeed every year since we became a public company, Admiral Group has reported record profits and record turnover. We have now exceeded £1.5 billion turnover which is a fantastic achievement.

"The big success was the UK motor insurance business. It's a snowball going like a freight train. Downhill. Wow! Throughout 2010 we experienced a flood of new business, with UK vehicle growth at over 30%. Everyone in the organisation is focussed on providing great value and service to all our customers.

"However there is a lot of work to be done to create sustainable, profitable and growing businesses outside the UK. There is no magic formula. In 2010 we said goodbye to our German operation AdmiralDirekt and we wish the team there every success for the future. Closer to home, we also have a lot of work to do with Confused which had a tough year in 2010."

By 13:50 shares in Admiral were down 3.40 per cent on the FTSE 100 to 1,650.00 pence per share.

FTSE