Beazley swings to FY profit; cyber division sees good demand
Beazley
658.50p
17:05 25/04/24
Insurer Beazley said on Thursday that it swung to a full-year profit amid solid demand in the cyber market.
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In the year to the end of December 2021, the group swung to a pre-tax profit of $369.2m from a loss of $50.4m the year before, with gross premiums written up 30% to $4.6bn.
Return on equity was 16%, up from 3%, and the combined ratio improved to 93% from 109% in 2020. A combined ratio below 100 means an insurer is making an underwriting profit, while a ratio above 100% means it’s making a loss.
In the Cyber & Executive Risk division, premiums written grew 49% to $1.5bn.
Chief executive Adrian Cox said: "We saw good growth across all our lines of business but were particularly encouraged by the opportunity in the cyber market where we continue to see significant rate improvement. We maintain our disciplined approach to cyber and remain excited about the opportunities for Beazley in this market and continue to invest in our cyber infrastructure.
"We are confident in delivering continued double-digit growth in 2022 and our strong capital levels support both our growth prospects and the reinstatement of our dividend where we have proposed 12.9p per share with respect to the whole of 2021."