Insurer Beazley has confirmed there is no change to its guidance after a global IT outage caused by Crowdstrike raised fears about potential claims.
As a leading cyber security insurer, Beazley was the FTSE 100’s biggest faller on Friday as an update fault rendered millions of Microsoft devices useless and brought airports, banks, and businesses across the globe to standstill.
Beazely investors breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday as the cyber security insured said the outage would not impact guidance for earnings.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Beazley said:
“Given the unprecedented nature of this event and Beazley’s position as a leading cyber insurer, the Company has elected to provide an update on its position in relation to the outage. Based on what is known at this point, the event will not change the current undiscounted combined ratio guidance of low-80s for the full year.
“Beazley will update the market on its first half performance on 8 August and will provide any further relevant updates in relation to this event at that time.”
Beazley shares were 1.9% higher at the time of writing as investors digested the update and considered the longer term implications for the company.
“Beazley calmed market fears by saying there is no change to its full-year guidance as it currently stands. Whether that situation changes over the coming days is another thing. A lot of companies will still be getting their head around the full impact of the global IT outage and Beazley might simply be facing the calm before the storm,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
“The flipside is that more companies might feel compelled to buy cyber insurance to give them protection against any future incidents, which could benefit Beazley.”