21st Feb 2006 07:03
Lancashire Holdings Limited21 February 2006 Lancashire Holdings Limited Hamilton, Bermuda, 21 February 2006 LANCASHIRE REPORTS EXCELLENT TRADING CONDITIONS Lancashire Holdings Limited ("Lancashire" or "the Company") today released thefollowing statement on current trading conditions and on operations. Lancashire writes a diversified portfolio of insurance, reinsurance andretrocession business on a worldwide basis, with an emphasis on retrocession,marine and energy and property classes. The classes written by Lancashireinclude those most impacted by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005. Leading into the January renewal season, Lancashire was anticipating significantupward pricing adjustments and improved terms and conditions. This has beenborne out, with overall trading conditions as expected and in certain areasbetter than expected at the time of Company's Initial Public Offering inDecember 2005 in lines that Lancashire has chosen to write. Richard Brindle, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Underwriting Officer,commented: "Lancashire has got off to a great start. Trading conditions in theclasses we write have been excellent; the support from the market has been veryencouraging; and our infrastructure and team is well developed. We are bindingbusiness at rates and terms better than anticipated. That said, we believeconditions will continue to improve further and Lancashire is keeping its powderdry as well. Gross premium written and expected to be written through March 1 isapproximately $165 million. Underwriting discipline is, and always will be, ournumber one focus." Richard Brindle continued: "While the retrocession and energy classes have beenvery encouraging, the marine excess of loss class and also the broader propertycatastrophe treaty market are not, in our opinion, adequately priced at thistime. Lancashire has therefore avoided these classes so far. There are somesigns of improvement in select zones however, and should we see rates rise towhat we believe are adequate levels, we may consider writing these classes laterin the year. In contrast to property catastrophe treaty business, we have beenencouraged by conditions in the direct property facultative market, and havebegun gradually building a solid book in that class. At this stage, we expectthat total 2006 gross written premium will be broadly in line with total premiumprojected in our business plan. We are looking ahead with optimism." Neil McConachie, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, commented:"We have over one billion dollars of clean capital and an A.M. Best rating of A-(Excellent) with a stable outlook. We will focus on balance sheet strength atall times, and manage our capital appropriately in tandem with the underwritingcycle. Our team has grown substantially over the past three months to 18 people,15 of which are employed in Bermuda. We will deploy our assets in a prudent mixof investment strategies with our golden rule being capital preservation first." There will be a conference call at 1700 UK time (GMT) on +44 (0)20 7138 0829.This conference call will be hosted by Richard Brindle, Chief Executive Officerand Chief Underwriting Officer, and Neil McConachie, Chief Financial Officer andChief Operating Officer. A replay of the conference call will be available fortwo weeks until 6 March 2006. The dial in number for replay is +44 (0)20 78061970 and the pass code is 1047539#. The replay facility can also be accessed atwww.lancashire.bm. Lancashire Holdings +1 441 278 8950Neil McConachie Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7269 7200Rob Bailhache www.lancashire.bm About Lancashire Lancashire was established in 2005 as a new insurance and reinsurance businessto take advantage of the favourable underwriting conditions expected to arisefrom the large insured losses incurred in 2004 and 2005. Lancashire was admitted to AIM on 16 December 2005 following an Offer of CommonShares to investors. The Common Shares trade on AIM under the ticker symbol LRE. NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS CERTAIN STATEMENTS MADE IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR ON THE CONFERENCE CALL THAT ARENOT BASED ON CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACTS ARE FORWARD-LOOKING IN NATUREINCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, STATEMENTS CONTAINING WORDS "BELIEVES","ANTICIPATES", "PLANS", "PROJECTS", "INTENDS", "EXPECTS", "ESTIMATES","PREDICTS", "MAY", "WILL", "SEEKS", "SHOULD" OR, IN EACH CASE, THEIR NEGATIVE ORCOMPARABLE TERMINOLOGY. ALL STATEMENTS OTHER THAN STATEMENTS OF HISTORICAL FACTSINCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE REGARDING THE GROUP'S FINANCIAL POSITION,RESULTS OF OPERATIONS, LIQUIDITY, PROSPECTS, GROWTH, BUSINESS STRATEGY, PLANSAND OBJECTIVES OF MANAGEMENT FOR FUTURE OPERATIONS (INCLUDING DEVELOPMENT PLANSAND OBJECTIVES RELATING TO THE GROUP'S INSURANCE BUSINESS) ARE FORWARD-LOOKINGSTATEMENTS. SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS INVOLVE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN RISKS,UNCERTAINTIES AND OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS THAT COULD CAUSE THE ACTUAL RESULTS,PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE GROUP TO BE MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM FUTURERESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED BY SUCHFORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS SPEAK ONLY AS ATTHE DATE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR OTHER INFORMATION CONCERNED. LANCASHIREHOLDINGS LIMITED EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY OBLIGATION OR UNDERTAKING (SAVE ASREQUIRED TO COMPLY WITH ANY LEGAL OR REGULATORY OBLIGATIONS (INCLUDING THE AIMRULES)) TO DISSEMINATE ANY UPDATES OR REVISIONS TO ANY FORWARD-LOOKINGSTATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN TO REFLECT ANY CHANGES IN THE GROUP'S EXPECTATIONSWITH REGARD THERETO OR ANY CHANGE IN EVENTS, CONDITIONS OR CIRCUMSTANCES ONWHICH ANY SUCH STATEMENT IS BASED. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Lancashire Holdings