Lloyd’s first-half profit falls 28%
Lloyd’s of London saw its profits fall 28 per cent in the first half of the year. Profits came in at £1.19bn, down from £1.65bn in the same period of 2014, despite turnover rising by 7 per cent.
The market’s combined operating ratio (COR) deteriorated by 2.1 percentage points to 89.5% (H1 2014: 87.4%).
Gross written premiums grew by 7% to £15.5bn (H1 2014: £14.5bn) but the underlying growth, excluding foreign exchange was 1.4%.
The return equated to 0.6% of invested assets (H1 2014: 1.3%).
Despite the decline in profitability, Lloyd’s chief executive Inga Beale was upbeat about the market’s first-half performance, stating, ‘These results demonstrate Lloyd’s success and resilience despite challenging underwriting and investment conditions.’
Llyods Chairman John Nelson said, ‘Last year was quite exceptional. We showed a very high level of profits with return on capital of 16 per cent and that is obviously not going to continue.’
‘So what we are seeing is tremendous competition coming in, lots of capital coming in, attracted by the returns, and a lot of capital coming into Lloyd’s, which is seen as a very attractive place.’
