3rd May 2007 07:01
Beazley Group PLC03 May 2007 Press Release Beazley Group Plc - AGM Trading Statement 3 May 2007 At its Annual General Meeting being held at 16:00 today, Beazley Group Plc("Beazley" or "the Group"), one of the Lloyd's market leaders, will update oncurrent trading, as below: Current Trading Underwriting conditions experienced so far this year are satisfactory - theGroup has experienced an overall rate increase on renewal business across theportfolio of 3%. This increase is mainly driven by rate increases on catastropheexposed business. The Group expects that by year end there will be no overallrate increase on renewal business. In this environment trading conditions remaingood. Premiums Written The Group has written £205m of gross premiums for the period ended 31 March2007, an increase of 11% over the equivalent period in 2006 (despite the £/$exchange rate moving from 1.73 to 1.96). The premiums written from the USamounted to $29m, comprising $18m written by our domestic insurance company,Beazley Insurance Company Inc. (BICI) and $11m for the combined syndicates. On 13 April 2007 the Group injected a further $45m into BICI to support thegrowth in the business including the start up of the commercial propertybusiness. Investment Income The investment balance continues to grow and the investment income for the firstquarter amounted to £15m compared to £10m for the equivalent period in 2006. Andrew Beazley, Chief Executive of Beazley, said: "We have had a good start to the year, with all parts of our business performingas expected." Beazley Group plc will be announcing its interim results on 30 July 2007. --ENDS-- For further information, please contact: Beazley Group plc Andrew Beazley T +44 (0)20 7674 7501 Finsbury Simon Moyse Amanda Lee T +44 (0)20 7251 3801 Notes to Editors Beazley Group, plc (BEZ.L), founded in 1986, is the parent company of specialistinsurance businesses with operations in the UK and the United States. Beazleymanages two Lloyd's syndicates (Syndicate 2623 and Syndicate 623) with aggregateunderwriting capacity in 2007 of £861m ($1.7bn). Both syndicates are rated A byA.M. Best. The Beazley syndicates focus on specialist risk business in selectedmarkets, including professional indemnity, commercial property, marine,reinsurance, and personal lines. Beazley is a market leader in many of itschosen segments, such as professional indemnity insurance for US law firms andfor US architects and engineers. Beazley is quoted on the London Stock Exchange. In the United States, Beazley's underwriters focus on writing specialistinsurance products in the admitted market, backed by Beazley Insurance Company,Inc., a US admitted carrier in all 50 states; and surplus lines risks, backed bythe Beazley syndicates at Lloyd's. Beazley Insurance Company is rated A- by A.M.Best. Beazley's website address is: www.beazley.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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