RSA Insurance profit hit by London Market losses
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 28 Feb 2019
(Sharecast News) - RSA Insurance posted a drop in 2018 underlying pre-tax profit on Thursday, dragged lower by its London Market business.
Underlying pre-tax profit fell to £492m from £620m the year before. Meanwhile, statutory pre-tax profit was up 7% to £480m.
Group operating profit fell 19% at constant currency to £517m, which is 8% below the company-compiled consensus.
Net written premiums declined 3% in UK & International and underwriting profit fell 33% to £250m during the year.
The insurer declared a final dividend of 13.7p a share, taking the total dividend to 21p, up 7% on the year.
Chief executive Stephen Hester said: "In 2018 RSA increased headline profits and dividends with a still attractive return on capital. At an underlying level however, the results represent RSA's first down year since 2013. We believe strongly that 2019 will show a bounce back and are taking decisive action to that end.
"Much went well in 2018, with excellent results in many of RSA's Personal Lines businesses and good progress on expenses and other strategic initiatives. However, adverse weather costs and challenging Commercial Lines results exposed us to more volatility than expected. This was most intense in the 'London Market' business which accounted for substantially all our underperformance in the second half."
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