Amlin’s profits battered by strong pound and hail storm catastrophe losses
Lloyd’s of London insurer Amlin saw its pre-tax profit fall eight per cent for the first half of 2014, with a strong pound and higher than usual catastrophe losses behind the dip.
Pre-tax profit fell to £148.5m from £161.4m in the same period a year ago, the FTSE 250 company said in a statement yesterday. In more positive news, net written premiums rose 7.3 per cent.
“Amlin continues to generate good returns despite a more competitive trading environment, demonstrating the strength of our franchise and the benefit of a well diversified portfolio,” chief executive Charles Philipps said yesterday.
“While remaining focused on underwriting discipline, we continue to identify opportunities for profitable growth.
“With the benefit of previous premium growth and significant savings on outwards reinsurance, Amlin remains well positioned in current market conditions,” he added.
Analysts were largely unmoved by Amlin’s results, with Eamonn Flanagan at Shore Capital commenting in a note: “Amlin reported a good set of 2014 interim results, which were better than we and the market had expected at the pre-tax profit level, broadly in line dividend but a couple of pennies below our expectations at the net tangible asset value level, with the latter entirely due to forex.”
Amlin paid out £48.9m in large catastrophe losses, 52 per cent higher than a year ago and largely accounted for by hail storm payouts in Europe and £23.8m for a tornado in Nebraska.