Many Group, the parent company of ManyPets, has reported a 59% rise in pre-tax profit to approximately £10 million for the year to 31 March 2026, driven largely by AI-enabled acquisition and claims handling that cut costs while growing new business 40%.
For brokers watching direct insurers as a signal for where AI-driven distribution is heading, the results mark how quickly acquisition economics are shifting away from intermediated channels.
Gross written premium rose 6% year on year to £230 million, while new business volumes grew 40% and acquisition costs fell, even as average premiums held stable in a declining pricing market. The group's loss ratio improved two percentage points to 68% despite ongoing claims inflation.
Group chief executive Luisa Barile (pictured) said the results reflected the strength of the platform the group had built.
"This year's results demonstrate the strength of the platform we have built and our ability to grow profitably while continuing to invest in the future," she said. Barile added that growing new business while cutting acquisition costs, without moving average premiums, pointed to the effectiveness of the group's pricing and distribution.
For a broker whose pet insurance proposition rests mainly on sourcing a competitive quote, that is a signal that AI-enabled direct insurers are compressing acquisition costs faster than intermediated channels can follow, and that broker value needs to sit elsewhere, in advice, bundling, or access clients cannot get direct. In practice, that might mean flagging multi-pet household discounts a direct-only platform won't proactively surface, or walking a client through breed-specific exclusions and pre-existing condition clauses before they bind, rather than after a claim is declined.
Many Group said AI is now embedded across acquisition, underwriting and claims. Its claims assistant, Millie, reviews all claims and settles more than half automatically, with around half paid within 24 hours of submission and 89% within ten working days. The group cited a Trustpilot score of 4.6 by May 2026 across more than 25,000 five-star reviews as evidence of structural improvement, and pointed to a new partnership with VetAI, integrating online veterinary support, as a further extension beyond the point of claim.
For brokers, this matters well beyond pet insurance. Clients increasingly benchmark claims service against the fastest experience they have had anywhere, not against other providers in the same class of business.
A broker whose panel insurers still run largely manual claims processes will face that comparison at renewal, regardless of price.
The results also land as the sector heads into its most significant regulatory change in years. The Competition and Markets Authority published its final report into veterinary services for household pets on March 24, 2026, concluding that pet owners lack sufficient information on pricing, ownership and treatment options. A binding Order is due by September 23, 2026, with remedies including price transparency, standardised estimates and itemised billing phased in over the following three to twelve months depending on business size.
The Pet and Equine Insurance Association, formed in 2025 to represent insurers, MGAs, brokers and service providers, has broadly welcomed the remedies while calling for consistent national templates and realistic timelines.
Brokers advising veterinary sector clients have a genuine window to raise the coming changes now, rather than waiting for clients to ask what it means for their professional indemnity exposure once remedies are already in force.
Chair Martin Totty pointed to how much of the market remains untapped.
"Pet insurance remains significantly underpenetrated, and as veterinary medicine continues to advance, the value of insurance will only increase," he said, adding that the gap continues to attract new entrants and underlines the long-term structural opportunity.
That gap is exactly the space in which advised sales, through affinity schemes, employee benefits platforms or bundled home and pet propositions, can compete with low-cost direct acquisition on something other than price.
Chief financial officer Nicci Setchell said the group's efficiency gains were now compounding.
"One of the most important milestones this year is that we are funding continued investment from the strength of the business itself. That gives us greater flexibility to pursue opportunities, continue investing behind innovation and maintain a disciplined approach to capital allocation," she said.
Average veterinary prices rose 63% between January 2016 and December 2023, according to the Association of British Insurers, which separately recorded a record £1.23 billion paid out in pet insurance claims in 2024, a 103% rise over the past decade.
Against that cost backdrop, and with a CMA-driven transparency regime approaching, the brokers best placed over the next renewal cycle will be those pairing genuine advice and access for the still-uninsured majority with an honest account of where AI-first direct insurers, ManyPets among them, are already ahead on cost and service.
