Insurer and Denplan owner Simplyhealth Group has reported a 42% increase in pre-tax profit to £25.6m for 2025, up from £18m the previous year, despite declines in income and membership.
Total technical income fell 3.1% to £214.4m from £221.3m as customer numbers decreased by 1.5% to 2.45 million, leaving adjusted operating profit down by 13.8% to £18.1m.
Simplyhealth said its health and dental businesses continued to face a challenging trading environment, with competitive pressures contributing to the loss of several large corporate accounts.
The group also reported delays in employers’ decisions to introduce healthcare benefits, as pressure on corporate budgets from inflation, higher employer National Insurance contributions and increases in wage costs continued to bite.
At the end of 2025, Simplyhealth had approximately 927,900 health plan customers and 1.48 million Denplan customers. Denplan, which generates roughly 10% of group revenue, lost a corporate client representing 51,000 members.
The decline in established plan membership was partly offset by the launch of Simply On Demand, a lower-cost healthcare offering introduced during the second half of the year.
The product attracted 40,700 customers through two large corporate clients and Simplyhealth said it expects further take-up in the current financial year.
Claims incurred reduced from £149.7m to £143.9m. The group’s claims loss ratio improved marginally to 67.1% from 67.6%, although inflationary pressures offset efficiency savings, leaving operating costs broadly flat.
After net operating expenses of £57.2m (2024: £57.3m), the balance on the technical account came in at £13.3m against £14.3m the previous year.
However, weaker performance in its core insurance operations was offset by stronger investment returns, which rose from £5.9m to £17.2m this time around.
During the year, Simplyhealth continued the implementation of its new insurance operating platform, with the majority of its consumer business transferred to the system by December. The rollout is expected to be completed in 2026, followed by the decommissioning of legacy systems in 2027.
It also increased its investment in healthcare businesses through Simplyhealth Ventures, committing £7.2m during the year compared with £1.8m in 2024. This included £5m invested in Evaro, an AI-enabled digital pharmacy, and £1m in Karehero, a business supporting people seeking and funding adult care services.
Despite the challenges, Simplyhealth ended the year with post-tax profit of £19.4m (2024: £14.5m), helping to boost total assets to £379.4m from £362.1m in 2024. Alongside changes in investments, improved profitability boosted the group’s solvency ratio to 538.3% (2024: 402.3%).
CEO Paul Schreier said increased pressures from tax rises as well as worldwide instability had created challenges for businesses resulting in some corporate clients having ‘to tighten their belts a little further’.
‘Against this backdrop, we are continuing to support business and helping to protect the NHS by providing fast, convenient solutions to everyday healthcare needs, keeping workers as healthy as possible without increasing the load on NHS services,’ he added.
‘Despite an overall membership decline of 36,600 during 2025, our new whole-of-workforce plan, Simply On Demand, has been extremely well received and we anticipate even greater take-up in the coming year as its cost-effective benefits are more widely recognised and optimism in the economy grows. Our core profitability and a strong performance from our investments have balanced the small drop in membership, leaving us in a very positive position to press on with our plans in 2026.’
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