Page 10 - Australasian Paint & Panel Mar-Apr 2019

NEWS
10
PAINT&PANEL MARCH / APRIL 2019
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
SG FLEET
BACKS
DINGGO
DINGGO, A DIGITAL MARKETPLACE FOR
private car repairs, has completed its seed round of funding, securing invest- ment from a consortium led by SG Fleet Group Limited.
In a market where one in four drivers damages their car each year, and the cost of many repairs is lower than the insurance excess, DingGo is giving con- sumers an easier way to connect with in- dependent repairers without needing to involve insurers.
“In the same way Houzz is a digital marketplace for consumers to identify trustworthy tradies, DingGo allows you to snap a few photos of your car damage, compare quotes from verified, local area repairers and book your car in to be re- paired,” says DingGo CEO and co-found- er, Shaun Janks.
The strategic investment is expected to provide the young start-up with ac-
From left: Josh Sandford, Jason Rosenberg and Shaun Janks
cess to the significant number of vehi- cles in the fleets managed by SG Fleet.
“Fourty-four percent of fleet vehicles are involved in an incident every year. Given that insurance excess for fleet ve- hicles is usually much higher than aver- age excesses, private repairs make a lot more sense, but the challenge is finding the right repairer,” says Janks.
The strategic partnership between
DingGo and SG Fleet will include the creation of an online portal available to SG Fleet customers.
“DingGo provides a great customer experience and is truly unique in the market. It’s an innovative approach that we believe can add a lot of value to our fleet customers and save them lots of time and stress,” says SG Fleet CEO, Robbie Blau.
our original ex- pectations.
“The financial
services industry
today faces a great
deal of change.
This includes fu-
ture policy set-
tings, shifts in reg-
ulation, and
material impacts
on business and
distribution models. I acknowledge the im- portance of the Royal Commission process, andacceptthatSuncorphas,attimes,fall- en short of community expectations.
WEATHER EVENTS RAIN ON SUNCORP PROFITS
SUNCORP HAS ANNOUNCED A NET PROFIT
after tax (NPAT) of $250 million, which includes the impact of higher natural hazard costs and volatile investment markets. These profits are down 44.7% from $452 million in the same period last year; while its cash earnings dropped 12.5% to $413 million, com- pared to $472 million in 1H18
Suncorp said the result showed solid top-line growth, with operating expenses well controlled and the Business Im-
provement Program exceeding targets. “While the interim result includes natu- ral hazard costs significantly above our al- lowance, as well as the impact of volatile investment markets, our underlying busi- ness remains resilient,” said Michael Cam- eron,SuncorpCEOandmanagingdirector. “Natural hazards, investment perfor- mance and unforeseen regulatory costs will impact our full year Cash ROE. How- ever the business is well-placed on an underlying basis to perform in-line with
ABOVE:
Michael Cameron