Direct Line Group has said the UK's recent winter storms are set to cost it at least around £35 million, while it revealed a £1 million bill so far for coronavirus travel claims.

The Churchill and Green Flag owner said the outbreak of the virus - also known as Covid-19 - has the potential to impact its travel business results this year, while the disruption in equity markets could knock its investments and affect the speed of claims payouts.

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Direct Line said: "Like all businesses, we are subject to the consequences of disruption to financial markets and global supply chains which, over time, could impact the performance of our investments and the cost and speed of fulfilling customers' claims."

Most coronavirus claims so far cover cases where customers were due to travel to countries where the Foreign & Commonwealth Office has advised against all but essential travel.

On the winter weather impact, the group said the claims estimate so far covers storms Ciara and Dennis, but added it was "too early" to assess claims from most recent storm Jorge.

Details of the claims hit came as it reported a 12.2% drop in pre-tax profits to £509.7 million for 2019.

Its annual figures also follow the group's announcement last week that it is axing around 800 jobs and closing one of its sites in the UK as part of a drive to cut costs by £50 million.

The job cuts will affect almost 7% of its 11,000 workforce and are set to take place largely between 2021 and 2022.

It said it was looking to target savings through greater use of self-service and "digitalisation".

The results show it saw falling policies and premiums - down 2% at 14,789 and 0.3% to £3.2 billion respectively - after the planned exit of home insurance partnership contracts for Nationwide and Sainsbury's, while it also suffered in a competitive motor insurance market.

But with the impact of partnerships stripped out, policies grew 1.4% and premiums were flat.

Penny James, chief executive of Direct Line Group, said: "We have delivered a good set of results, and continued to improve the quality, while navigating a difficult motor market and delivering significant change in the business."

Greggs was hit by bad weather in February the business said as it revealed a big jump in both profit and sales last year.

The company, which launched its new vegan sausage roll in January 2019, said the year had brought a 31% increase in pre-tax profit to £108.3 million, on revenue of almost £1.2 billion, up 13.5%.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside warned that storms battered the food-to-go giant last month.

"We made a very strong start to 2020 in January, but in February saw a significant slowdown in sales growth as a result of the storms that have affected the UK," he said.

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Despite the headwinds, like-for-like sales in Greggs shops managed by the company rose by 7.5% in the nine weeks to the end of February.

Mr Whiteside also warned that the business could face trouble from the coronavirus outbreak, which is causing "some uncertainty".

It said 2019 was a record year for Greggs, as it opened 97 more bakeries than it closed, taking its total number of shops to 2,050.

Mr Whiteside said: "2019 was an exceptional year of progress for Greggs, during which we experienced a sustained increase in customer visits as increased awareness and appreciation of our brand gathered momentum.

"We expect to make year-on-year progress and will do so from a strong financial position, supporting our investment for further growth whilst also delivering good returns for all stakeholders."

The chief executive said the new vegan range, which now includes the stake bake, as well as doughnuts, "has been our most successful product initiative in recent years".

Recruitment giant Robert Walters has seen shares come under pressure after it warned the coronavirus outbreak is likely to impact 2020 profits.

The group - which operates worldwide - said the spread of the virus is adding further uncertainty to an "unpredictable" global recruitment market.

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Shares fell 9% on both the warning and as the group reported 2019 pre-tax profits of £47.4 million - down 6% on a constant currency basis.

The outbreak follows a difficult last year for the group amid Brexit and election uncertainty in the UK, political protests in Hong Kong and global economic worries caused by the US-China trade war.

In the UK - which accounts for around 24% of group net fee income - underlying earnings fell 7% to £11.5 million after net fee income dropped 9% to £98.4 million.

Founder and chief executive Robert Walters said: "The global recruitment market remains unpredictable at present with the coronavirus outbreak, which is likely to negatively impact full-year profit expectations, adding a further layer of uncertainty.
"We will continue to monitor the coronavirus situation and update the market as appropriate."

Robert Walters makes more than 40% of its group net fee income from the Asia Pacific region.

The Asia Pacific business grew underlying earnings by 7% to £22.6 million last year despite a significant hit to Hong Kong due to the political protests.

Overall group-wide net fee income lifted 2% to £405.5 million.
"2019 was a year of unprecedented political and economic turbulence fuelled by the US-China trade war, Brexit, protests in Hong Kong and Gilets-Jaunes disruption in France," said Mr Walters.

Analysts at Liberum said they expected Robert Walters' full-year profit expectations to be cut by around £2 million or 15% after the group's likely coronavirus hit.