Paul Selway-Swift resigns as chairman
Lloyd's Insurer Novae has posted gross written premiums of £88.5m in the first quarter of this year, down slightly from £89.1m in 2007.
In a statement Novae said its average rates are down 6 percent on business renewed in the first quarter.
In March, the company reported record pre-tax profits of £41m - up almost a third from the previous year.
The statement added that Syndicate forecasts for the group's Lloyd's 2006-7 underwriting years were unchanged.
The company said its financial institutions business had only limited expsoure to fallout from the US sub-prime crisis.
It said: "[Our] potential exposure to US sub-prime is carefully monitored. Based on current experience the general reserve carried for losses incurred but not reported is sufficient to cover claims from US sub-prime related losses."
Chief executive Matthew Fosh said the fall in premiums was the result of the market continuing to soften. He said: "As the market continues to soften, we are reducing like-for-like income.
"Simultaneously we are attracting new teams of underwriters to the Group bringing uncorrelated books of business. The market remains competitive, but we are ready to exploit any upturn in the rating environment as and when it occurs."
The company also confirmed the resignation of chiarman Paul Selway-Swift after nine years in the role. He will be succeeded by John Hastings-Bass, who joined the board in May last year.
Novae also said its investment return during the first quarter was £12.7m pounds, equivalent to a return of 1.31 per cent over the fist quarter of the year.
