Leading insurance firm DAC Beachcroft has arranged to borrow an extra £15m to fund growth plans last year, accounts have revealed.

Financial reports filed with Companies House this week state that the international firm extended its bank facilities in 2013/14 to assist with the delivery of ‘strategic growth plans’.

Outstanding bank loans, payable after more than one year, rose from around £4m in 2013 to more than £24m by April 2014.

The extended credit facility came during a year in which profits before tax at DAC Beachcroft fell by 13.6%, from £31.7m in 2012/13 to £27.4m.

The firm said the reduction in profits was in part explained by the effect of an ‘exceptional impairment charge’ relating to certain IT development costs, and without that profits would have been £30.3m.

Falling profits came despite a 6% increase in revenue, from £186.8m to £197.2m.

The firm said the majority of growth was achieved ‘organically’, although it did form a new partnership in Colombia in December 2013 to establish a presence in Latin America.

The accounts also reveal the firm went on a recruiting spree in 2013/14.

Headcount increased from 2,051 to 2,276 during the year, which included an extra 145 fee-earners. Staff costs rose 10% in 2014, from £99.3m to £109.3m. The highest profit share of a member for the year was £438,506, a drop of around £12,000 compared with 2013.

Since the accounts were published, the firm has had to close one of its Manchester offices dealing in claims validation, with around 60 jobs lost.

The firm, which took its current form in 2011 with the merger of Beachcroft with Davies Arnold Cooper, now has offices in 10 UK locations and is also based in Chile, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain.