29th Feb 2016 07:51
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hiscox Ltd on Monday said it will look to retain more of its earnings to fund growth, as the specialty insurer reduced its special dividend and reported lower annual pretax profit.
In a statement, Hiscox said it made a GBP216.1 million pretax profit in 2015, down from GBP231.1 million the prior year, coming a touch above company-compiled consensus forecasts of a GBP214.2 million pretax profit.
The insurer lifted its ordinary dividend per share to 24.0 pence from 22.5p, and lowered its special dividend to 16.0p from 45.0p the prior year, taking the total payment to 40.0p. That was above analyst expectations for a 38.5p total dividend for the year.
Hiscox's combined ratio - a measure of underwriting profitability - declined to 85.0% from 83.9%, but was better than analyst expectations of 87.4%. A ratio below 100% indicates underwriting profitability. Investment returns fell to 1.0% from 1.8%.
"In 2015 good sector selection, good underwriting and good fortune delivered good results for shareholders. We cannot count on good fortune at every turn, so in 2016 we will focus on sector selection, disciplined underwriting, marketing to drive profitable growth, and expense discipline," Chief Executive Bronek Masojada said in a statement.
"Our bigger-ticket businesses are more likely to retreat, with growth coming from our new teams and in specialty retail across the world. To this we will add a focus on efficiency as we reap the benefits of investments made in the UK, scale economies in the US, and expense discipline elsewhere. Our breadth of capability will set us apart in what will be a challenging environment," Masojada added.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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