Admiral is also the insurer behind the Elephant brand

Pre-tax profits jumped 24% to �68.7m ($130m) in the six months to 30 June, compared with �55.6m a year ago.

Admiral, which owns several insurance brands including Elephant, said total premiums were up 10% to �294m.

Admiral also said it was on target to launch operations in Spain, and had already begun to investigate expansion opportunities in the market.

"As part of our longer-term strategy we will launch our Spanish operation later this year or early next year and have already begun looking beyond Spain at other opportunities," said chief executive Henry Engelhardt.

Premiums unchanged

But the Cardiff-based firm said it had no plans to increase its premiums this year, despite last week's announcement from rival Norwich Union that it would raise its rates by an average of 16%.

Admiral had been the exception to 2005's general freeze on premiums, raising its rates by 2.9%.

"We can understand why Norwich Union has raised its premiums," Mr Engelhardt told BBC News.

"But we have no immediate plans to increase our premiums. This gives us an opportunity to grow our market share as competitors increase their rates."

The company is also behind the online insurance comparison website Confused.com, which, it said, experienced "significant growth" during the first half of the year as it ventured into the home and travel insurance markets.