Once might be considered an accident, but thrice is hard to forgive. Direct Line faces an uphill battle to regain credibility with investors after a trio of profit warnings and a decision to scrap the final dividend, despite assurances that shareholder returns were safe.
The mess culminated in Penny James stepping down as the insurer’s boss last week, replaced in the interim by Jon Greenwood, the former chief commercial officer, but any hope that a permanent successor can engineer a quick fix in the FTSE 250 group’s fortunes is remote.
The December cold snap broke the insurer’s back. Homes flooded by burst water pipes and other large claims caused by the big freeze cost the home and commercial insurance business £90 million, pushing the bill
