Lloyd's insurer Talbot Underwriting has seen its profits fall sharply after being hit by US hurricane losses in 2005.
Following its “most testing year”, Syndicate 1183 reported a loss of £3.8m. This compares with a profit of £32.5m in 2004. Its combined ratio rose from 85.6% in 2004 to 104.8%.
Despite making a loss in 2005, Talbot, which specialises in marine and energy, war, terrorism and political risk, said in the first two months of 2006 it experienced an improvement in premium rates of, on average, 8% across its portfolio.
Michael Carpenter, chief executive of Talbot, said: “The 2006 year has started well, with gross premium income up 4% on 2005. We continue to see significant rate increases in classes of business most affected by the hurricanes and for most other classes of business increases in rates or no reductions. We remain confident that Talbot is well-positioned to take advantage of the attractive market condition that we foresee in the current year.”
In contrast to its 2005 results, Talbot closed its 2003 year of account, on a Lloyd's accounting basis, with a “very satisfactory” profit of £52.6m, a 27.2% return on capacity.
