Premiums generated by US underwriters rise 25%
Beazley chief executive Andrew Horton has hailed the company’s first half year results as ‘excellent’ as the Lloyd’s insurer’s profits increased to £154.5m compared with £132.9m last year
Net written premiums remained relatively stable, declining just 1% to £879.2m compared to £889.2m last year.
Horton said: “This was an excellent first half for Beazley with premiums and profits both rising. Premiums generated by our US underwriters rose by 25%, counterbalancing the highly competitive conditions elsewhere.
“In London, we are still witnessing downward pressure on rates for large risk and short tail classes of business, the effect of which has been masked by subdued claims activity.”
| First six months 2015 | First six months 2014 | |
|---|---|---|
| Profit before tax | $154.5m | $132.9m |
| Return on equity | 20% | 17% |
| Gross written premium | $1,099.7m | $1,077.7m |
| Combined operating ratio | 86% | 90% |
| Rate decrease on renewal | 2% | -1% |
| Prioar year reserve release | $74.5m | $72.9m |
| Net investment income | $43.5m | $46.8m |
Investors received an interim dividend of 3.3p compared with 3.1p last year.
Beazley said in the results statement that it was adjusting the size of its book to cope with downward pressure at Lloyd’s.
”Our business underwritten at Lloyd’s continues to generate approximately 68% of our total gross premiums written. Here, the market has been highly competitive for some time and rates continue to fall for catastrophe exposed lines such as large scale commercial property, energy and reinsurance.
“However, we have been adjusting the size of this book downwards as competition continues to grow, fuelled both by new capacity and by a low incidence of major losses.”
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