Gable's share price nosedives to two and a half year low

Liechtenstein-based insurer Gable’s share plummeted by 10% today, hitting a three year low.

The share price closed at 36p yesterday but sank 10.69% to 32.12p by 10am today as investors digested news of its £5.4m pre-tax loss.

It is the lowest share price for the insurer since November 2012.

The loss was partly-driven by a handful of large claims and then a £6.3m reserve strengthening last year, with another £7.5m expected to be used to strengthen their reserve gap in 2015.

Gable, founded in 2006, underwrites a number of specialist policies for the commercial sectors across Europe.

Its share price peaked at 87.25p in July of 2014 when it announced a deal with UK broker RiskAlliance Group to underwrite all of their commercial combined business for UK SMEs.

The share price has been falling since then.

Chief Executive William Dewsall, however, said Gable had been hit by a significant fire claim in France that cost the company £3.1m, as well as a UK based claim amounting to £5.2m that he believes collectively “has disproportionately impacted our results given our relatively small size”.

Despite this, Gable did announce a record gross written premium (GWP) of £80m for 2014 as well as reporting a combined operating ratio (COR) of 87%.