5th May 2016 06:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - RSA Insurance Group PLC on Thursday said it saw good underwriting results in the first quarter, driving up operating profit, as it benefited from benign weather conditions and as underlying results continued to indicate an improving picture.
The FTSE 100-listed insurer said insurance market conditions in the first quarter, to the end of March, were broadly unchanged against the same period in 2015. Slow growth in the market and strong competition has driven sharp price-volume trade-offs, the group said, in line with its expectations.
Group net written premiums in the quarter were flat year-on-year, reflecting the impact of the disposal of non-core operations RSA has undertaken.
Operating profit in the quarter grew ahead of expectations, RSA said, with a strong underwriting performance in the UK & Ireland, Canada and Scandinavia, with all regions ahead year-on-year and outpacing RSA's expectations.
"The year has started well for RSA. A streamlined and focused business model is already proving its worth, channelling our self-improvement measures more effectively to drive performance gains. Higher profits are underpinned by better attritional loss ratios and falling costs as planned. More volatile underwriting items have also gone our way this quarter," said RSA Chief Executive Stephen Hester.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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