Lancashire doubles profits

29th Jul 2009 15:28

Insurer Lancashire Holdings hailed a good second quarter performance despite a weaker than expected return from the Gulf of Mexico market.Richard Brindle, group chief executive of Lancashire, expressed surprise at the lower demand for Gulf of Mexico energy hurricane cover, which significantly reduced the level of hurricane cover business written by the company.Despite this, gross written premiums in the second quarter rose to $241.9m from $196.7m in the second quarter of 2008. Profit before tax jumped to $107.2m from $49.8m a year earlier. Fully converted book value per share at the end of June had risen to $7.57 from $7.08m at the end of March."Our underwriting result was excellent with a combined ratio for the second quarter of 35.4%. Our investments returned 2.4% on an annualised basis; a reasonable result given our conservative philosophy," Brindles said.The company has declared an interim dividend of $0.05 per share.Group chief financial officer (CFO) Neil McConachie has been promoted to the position of president of the group and will take on some of the responsibilities previously held by Brindle, while continuing in the role of CFO.