Smart & Cook mainly serves small and medium-sized businesses around England, for which it negotiates complex insurance packages from leading insurers such as Royal & Sun Alliance. The company was founded in 1968 by former Norwich Union employees John Smart and Geoffrey Cook. It bought six British insurance brokers between 1999 and 2001. A new office in Scotland, opened last year, and further acquisitions have helped to boost profits 65% a year from £722,000 in 2001 to £3.2m in 2004.