Chaucer Holdings said its 2004 year of account continued to develop positively as it announced its updated forecasts for its Lloyd's syndicates.
Chaucer said gross written premiums for the 2004 year of account were ahead of those recorded for the same point in 2003, with pricing remaining strong overall.
Gross written premiums to the end of June 2004, net of brokerage, were £243.4m, up 15% on the previous year.
The group's increased participation in syndicate underwriting in 2004 increased its share of gross premiums written by 30.6% to £188.8m. Chaucer has an underwriting interest of 77.6% in motor Syndicate 1084 and 44.0% in nuclear Syndicate 1176 for 2004.
The forecasts for the 2003 year of account remain unchanged from those announced at the end of the first quarter of 2004.
For motor Syndicate 587, the forecast is 10% to 15%, with Chaucer having a 66.4% share of the £95.9m capacity.
For marine Syndicate 1084, the forecast is 7.5% to 15%, with Chaucer having a 58.2% share of the £101.8m capacity.
For non-marine Syndicate 1096, the forecast is 10% to 17.5%, with Chaucer having a 72.7% share of the £190m capacity.
For nuclear Syndicate 1176, the forecast is 30% to 37.5%, with Chaucer having a 41.8% share of the £12.5m capacity.
The insurer said: “Although a significant amount of business is still on risk, Chaucer believes that there is potential for these syndicate forecasts to improve if performance develops as expected.”
For the 2004 year of account, the forecast for motor Syndicate 587 has been lowered from 16% to 21% to 13% to 18%, with Chaucer having a 65.6% share of the £90m capacity.
The forecast for marine Syndicate 1084 has remained unchanged from the first quarter of 2004 at 11.5% to 16.5%, with the insurer having a 30.6% share of the £82.4m capacity.
The forecast for non-marine Syndicate 1096 has also remained unchanged at 17.5% to 22.5%, with Chaucer having a 71% share of the £148.4m capacity.
Chaucer said the improved forecasts for Syndicate 587 reflected the continued favourable claims experience, while Syndicates 1084 and 1096 continued to develop in line with expectations.
Losses arising from Hurricane Charley remained estimated, said the insurer, but it added that its current analysis had indicated that its exposure would be within budgeted loss ratios.
Chaucer chief executive Ewen Gilmour said: “The continued good trading conditions, combined with further positive development of business written in 2002 and 2003, should, assuming normal loss patterns, produce another strong underwriting result for Chaucer in 2004.”
