Hiscox upbeat after full year profit boost

24th Feb 2014 07:32

Hiscox posted a hike in profits for its 2013 year and struck an upbeat note on outlook, with the specialist insurer confident of doubling the size of its business through organic growth. Full year pretax profits rose 12.4% to £244.5m. Gross written premiums increased by 8.5% to £1.7bn and net earned premiums increased 7.1% to £1.28bn. Earnings per share rose 24.9% to 66.3p. The payout for the year includes the sum of 14p per share instead of a final dividend for 2013 as part of its C/D capital return scheme. Together with an interim dividend of 7p per share, the total dividend for its 2013 year amounts to 21p, a 16.7% hike on last time. It is the second successive year the company has engaged in a capital return exercise. The statement cautions the company cannot promise there will be a third round. Hiscox, whose range of underwriting includes fine art, oil rigs, property and vintage cars, said it expected to reserve £5m to cover UK flood claims from January and February. It has already set aside £11m for December.Bronek Masojada, Chief Executive of Hiscox said: "2013 was a very good year for Hiscox. Our long term strategy of building local retail businesses in Europe, the UK, Guernsey and the US to balance internationally traded business in London and Bermuda continues to deliver.Masojda said the company is "excited" about the opportunities it sees in many retail markets where Hiscox has room to grow profitably.He added: "The good news from a shareholder perspective is that our strategic work suggests the insurance markets and customer segments we already serve are sufficiently large enough, and our current market shares small enough, to allow us to double the size of business we have today through organic growth.In early morning trade Hiscox shares were down 8p or 1.2% to 648p, valuing the company at £2.33bn.