Novae Q1 GWP dips 20%

 Novae Group’s gross written premium (GWP) for the first three months of 2013 was £184.6m, down 20% from £231.1m in the same period last year, according to the group’s latest interim management statement.

The drop reflects a planned cutback in engineering and motor reinsurance, the statement said. The £184.6m figure is 32% of the group’s planned GWP for the year. Novae wants 70% of GWP to be insurance, with the remaining 30% being reinsurance.

The statement added that rates on renewal business in the first quarter were up 1%, due to increases in property, marine and general liability classes.

The business performed ahead of the targeted loss ratio in the quarter, achieving a 57% claims ratio (2012: 59%).

Novae Group chief executive Matthew Fosh said: “It has been a solid start to the year. The business has maintained the strong progress made in 2012 with a good first quarter performance. The planned reductions in reinsurance income were achieved in the first quarter, following our decision to discontinue or substantially reduce our participation in certain lines, and the business overall continued its positive progress from last year.”

Insurance GWP was £105m for the period, down slightly from £106.1m for Q1 2012.

The statement said: “The insurance segment as a whole benefited from a favourable loss experience in the quarter compared to the same period in 2012. Marine and energy saw another strong performance, improving on an already good performance in the first quarter of last year. 

“Direct property also performed well as a result of favourable claims experience on international property and relatively benign claims experience in the UK. There was also a good performance from the political risk and credit businesses. The financial institutions and professional indemnity units were not able to repeat the strong performance in the first quarter of 2012, but these were offset by an improved result on direct liability.” 

Reinsurance premiums for the quarter were £79.6m, down from £125m in Q1 2012.

The statement added: “The majority of this reduction can be attributed to the discontinuance of the engineering treaty account and a substantial reduction in motor treaty for the period when compared to last year.  The result for the quarter also reflects some rebalancing of the international property portfolio, with a number of inception dates moving later in the year.  The US property catastrophe unit has also experienced increased competition from new sources of underwriting capital entering the class.”