The week's winners
Brit up 7.8%
Hardy up 6.6%
The week's losers
Atrium down 6.6%
Cox down 3.7%
Fortunes are looking up for many Lloyd's insurers.
The market will be announcing interim results at the end of the week and indications are that they will continue to build on the successes that started emerging late last year.
The price rises and relatively benign claims environments in many classes since the 11 September terror attacks are now filtering through to the bottom lines of many operators.
Pundits expect Lloyd's results to be strong and point to individual syndicate forecasts edging upwards.
Kiln issued improved outlooks on all five of its syndicates for 2002. One in particular, Syndicate 557, is now forecast to make a profit of more than a third of its £47m capacity - between 30.75% and 35.75%, to be precise, up from a previous forecast of between 15% and 30%.
It certainly bodes well if other Lloyd's syndicates can do half as well.
Syndicate 557 was originally a specialist catastrophe exposed reinsurance operation, although it takes on business from property catastrophe excess of loss to various catastrophe exposed insurances and reinsurances.
The strength of the way 2002 business has developed was made clear when Hiscox announced it was having to raise its WTC reserves to $588m (£375m) from $475m (£303m), pushing Syndicate 33 into a forecast loss of between 17.5% and 22.5% for its 2001 capacity of £360m compared to the previous forecast of a loss of 5% to 10%.
By contrast, the 2002 result is forecast at between 22.5% and 27%, up from a range of between 17.5% and 22.5%, on an enlarged capacity of £504m, which is 55% owned by Hiscox.
