Amlin reports record profits on the back of low losses and buoyant investments

The group, that recently expanded into mainland Europe with acquisitions in France and the Benelux (see related story), reported gross written premiums of £1.544bn in 2009 against £1.034bn in 2008. Net earned premiums reached £1.317bn against £913.5m the previous year.

The underwriting result was £365.8m compared with £222.2m and group combined ratio was 72% against 76% in 2008. Amlin Corporate Insurance, that includes the Dutch and Belgian business acquired from Fortis last summer, delivered a combined ratio of 96%.

hide

The group investment result shot up from £18m in 2008 to £207.5m last year. The group also benefited from reserve releases of £174.1m last year compared with £114.7m in 2008.

This helped deliver the record operating profit of £509.1m against £121.6m in 2008 and £445m in 2007.

The return on equity was an impressive 37% last year against 7.8% in 2008 and 37.8% in 2009.

Amlin Bermuda, a 2005 start up, paid its first dividend of $200m to the group in October 2009. This was followed by a further dividend of $169m last month.

Chairman Roger Taylor said that following the “excellent” results in 2009 Amlin expects increased competition in the short term.

He also said that the group remains “alert” to “continuing uncertainty in the wider economy and consequences such as changing regulatory regimes,” such as Solvency II.

Charles Philipps, Chief Executive, said: “Once again, the Group’s financial performance in 2009 was excellent, reflecting the quality of our underwriting businesses and a recovery in investment markets. We also made significant progress strategically, most notably with the acquisition of the Fortis Group’s commercial insurance operations in the Benelux countries.”