Brit warns on second half profits

Brit Insurance has warned that second half profits may not be as good as those posted in the first half.

Chief executive Dane Douetil said in a statement: "In our opinion it is unlikely that second half year profits will match the first half as a result of a more competitive environment in many classes of insurance."

He added that the environment was a challenging one for the company.

Despite its slightly negative short-term outlook, Brit said that it had not changed its medium term outlook. It also said that although the UK market remained 'challenging' it expected to see an improvement in the market in the second half of 2008 and beyond.

Brit reported a rise in first half pre-tax profits to £106.8m, up from £106m, beating analysts expectations of a 7% fall to £98.17m.

Gross written premiums rose 4.6% to £727.4m.

Underwriting profit, however, fell to £70.3m, down from £92m the year earlier.

Group combined ratio rose to 87.7%, up from 82.4% a year earlier.

'We have delivered a solid result in the first half despite claims activity returning to more normal patterns from the low levels seen in 2006 and the pricing pressures seen in an increasing number of classes of business.

The group maintained the interim dividend at 7.5 pence per share.

In a separate statement, the group said that Clive Coates, its chairman, would be retiring and would be replaced by John Barton, who was the chairman of Wellington Underwriting before it was taken over by Lloyd's rival Catlin Group.