- Lloyd’s of London’s combined ratio improved to 83.7% in the first half of 2024
- The insurance marketplace also raised its pre-tax profits from £3.9bn to £4.9bn
Lloyd’s of London has reported its strongest underwriting performance since 2007, alongside a £1billion jump in profits.
The commercial insurance marketplace revealed its combined ratio – the difference between written premiums and payouts – improved to 83.7 per cent in the first half of 2024, up from 85.2 per cent the previous year.
Any number below 100 per cent indicates a profit.
Lloyd’s also increased pre-tax profits from £3.9billion to £4.9billion, which it credited to ‘resilient underlying profitability across the market’.
Strong performance: Lloyd’s of London revealed its combined ratio – the difference between written premiums and payouts – improved to 83.7 per cent in the first half of 2024
It achieved an investment return of £2.1billion, supported by healthy returns on fixed-income assets and growing equity markets amid falling inflation and expectations of interest rate reductions.
Gross written premiums also expanded by 6.5 per cent to £30.6billion, largely thanks to growing volumes, with Lloyd’s benefiting especially from new market entrants like Aviva and Fidelis.
Insurer Aviva returned to the Lloyd’s market after an absence of over two decades when it agreed a £242million deal in March to buy underwriting syndicate Probitas.
The FTSE 100 company said the takeover would help accelerate growth in its general insurance business, including its global corporate and specialty division.
John Neal, chief executive of Lloyd’s, praised the ‘superb set of results,’ adding that it ‘represents a combination of disciplined underwriting, smart organic growth and real strength in the Lloyd’s balance sheet.
‘This is good news for both investors in the Lloyd’s insurance marketplace and our customers as we continue to support them in an increasingly risky world.’
Neal’s comments come alongside separate comments he made warning against huge tax increases by the new Labour Government.
He told the Financial Times: ‘We’ve got to be careful. I worry about businesses wanting to list in the UK and wanting to be formally established here.’
Neal added that if corporation tax and personal taxes were hiked too much, Britain would be ‘a very difficult place to domicile, to do business’.
The government is widely expected to announce significant tax rises in its upcoming budget on 30 October to close what it says is a £22billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances.
During the general election campaign, Labour promised not to increase income tax, VAT and national insurance but did not rule out rises in capital gains and inheritance taxes.
It has also vowed to charge VAT and business rates on private schools, put up the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas production, and close loopholes in the non-domiciled regime.
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