Admiral boss gives staff £10m as retirement farewell

A boss is giving his staff £10m as a thank-you to mark his retirement.

The gift from Admiral's Chief Executive David Stevens and his wife Heather will be shared between 7,500 staff in south Wales and 3,000 overseas.

Full-time workers will get £1,000 with part-time staff receiving £500.

Mr Stevens, who co-founded the Cardiff-based motor insurance company with his wife in 1991, said he was "proud and fortunate to have worked with a such a special group of people".

"Saying thank you to all Admiral staff in this way is the right thing to do," he said.

"Their hard work and dedication has allowed Admiral to grow from a start-up to over 11,000 staff worldwide.

"And all of this while remaining a great place to work. Thank you from myself and my wife to everyone at Admiral."

It follows a similar gesture by former chief executive - and fellow co-founder - Henry Engelhardt who gave a £1,000 retirement thank you to full-time staff back in 2016, which at the time came to about £7m.

Mr Stevens is being succeeded as chief executive by Milena Mondini de Focatilis.

Admiral was launched selling car insurance over the phone in Cardiff with a team of just 57.

Its other UK offices are in Swansea and Newport, with overseas sites in Spain, Italy, France, Canada, the US and India.