4th Feb 2016 08:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Beazley PLC on Thursday said it had performed "very strongly" in 2015, seeing pretax profit rise and proposing both a higher regular dividend and a special dividend.
The specialist risk insurance and reinsurance business reported a pretax profit of USD284.0 million for 2015, up from USD261.9 million a year before, as revenue rose to USD2.08 billion from USD2.02 billion.
Beazley proposed a second interim dividend of 6.6 pence, taking its total dividends for the year to 9.9p, up from 9.3p a year before. It also proposed a special dividend of 18.4p, up from the 11.8p special dividend it paid in 2014.
Beazley said it expects that tough market conditions it experienced in 2015, particularly in large risk markets, to continue in 2016.
The Dublin-based company said that during the year it had considered the feasibility of moving its management from Ireland to the UK, returning to their London head office. It intends to present a proposal to shareholders at its annual general meeting March to effect this change via the creation of a new UK domiciled holding company, which it believes will increase its operational efficiency.
"Beazley increased both premiums and profits in 2015, delivering excellent returns for shareholders despite low investment returns and declining premium rates. We see the recent M&A driven market consolidation as benefiting our business by increasing our attractiveness to the talented, entrepreneurial individuals on whom we rely for our success," said Chief Executive Officer Andrew Horton in a statement.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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