Helios shares fell 4% to 166p in late afternoon trading on Friday, after the firm announced a basic loss per share of 0.75p in its FY 2021 from an earnings per share of 1.5p in FY 2020.
Helios swung to a loss of £434,000 compared to a profit of £301,000, however, the investment firm reported a growth in underwriting profits to £3.4 million against £639,000 in the previous year.
Helios confirmed a slight drop in total other income to £2.7 million compared to £2.8 million, with a total comprehensive income of £4.9 million against £4.2 million year-on-year.
The group highlighted an increase in total costs to £6.7 million compared to £3.1 million, on the back of operating expenses and the cost of stop loss protection bought in a move to mitigate the downside from great underwriting losses.
The company reported stop loss costs of £1.8 million compared to £1 million the last year, with operating costs of £3.6 million against £2 million in FY 2021.
The operating costs included the transaction costs from the firm’s 28 acquisitions and the additional operating costs of the LLV’s.
Helios noted that it did not expect the infrastructure required to manage the larger portfolio to materially increase.
“We have successfully navigated a challenging period, with reinsurance mitigating the COVID-19 losses and managing the volatility of the portfolio,” said Helios CEO Nigel Hanbury.
“With the prospect of improving underwriting returns, together with the opportunity to continue to build the capacity portfolio, Helios is well placed to deliver value to shareholders in the future.”