The week's winners
Hiscox up 6.6%
GoshawK up 5.2%
The week's winners Hiscox up 6.6%GoshawK up 5.2%
The week's losersCox down 8%Domestic & General down 8%Hiscox shareholders may walk with their wallets soon. At the "Lifting of the skirts" conference this week, fund managers felt that Hiscox was becoming a less appealing investment - perhaps they didn't like what they saw under its skirts. One pointed out that if managers had concerns regarding the underwriting cycle, they would get better returns by investing in brokers not underwriters. That said, quite a few admitted they had their eye on Benfield.Meanwhile, troubled Royal & SunAlliance (R&SA) has made more inroads as it revealed that bondholders have voted to accept its offer to amend terms of both tranches of its ¤500m Eurobond subordinated debt. This means that under FSA regulation, the Eurobonds will be eligible to qualify as risk-based capital. However, the company was quick to add that neither the ratings of the securities nor the financial strength rating of R&SA would be affected by these amendments. GoshawK is also on the road to recovery, following the appointment of new management in 2003. At the AGM, chairman Paul Spencer said: "We have developed an extremely sound book of international business and now turn our attention to developing a similar book in the US." The market appears to have reacted favourably to the company's burst of confidence, with its shares going up by 5.2%.But confidence in Cox has deflated after fears emerged that the motor insurer had drastically under-reserved. This week alone, Cox's shares dropped to a 63p low. It looks like new chief executive Andrew Fisher has his work cut out if he wants to win back support.
