Beazley shares were up 4.7% to 425.8p in early morning trading on Friday after the company announced a written gross premiums increase of 27% to $1.2 billion from $971 million year-on-year in its Q1 2022 trading update.
Beazley attributed its premiums rise to growth across the majority of its sectors, driven by rate increases and expanded market exposure.
The insurance firm reported a 17% boost to premium rates on renewal business against a 16% uptick in Q1 2021, and confirmed that the group’s combined ratio guidance remained at approximately 90% for FY2022.
“The year has started well with gross premiums written increasing by 27% and growth slightly ahead of our expectations across all divisions,” said Beazley CEO Adrian Cox.
“This is primarily driven by Cyber where rates have doubled in the first three months of 2022.”
“Whilst the overall rating environment remains positive, the rate change across parts of our business is beginning to moderate.”
However, Beazley highlighted an initial estimate of exposure to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine of around $50 million net of reinsurance, excluding the firm’s aviation sector.
The company also took a $92 million investment loss against a gain of $27 million in Q1 2021.
“The impacts of the war in Ukraine go far beyond those which are financial, and our thoughts are with everyone who is impacted by this terrible conflict,” said Cox.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely and have assessed our potential exposures across our business.”
“To date we have seen a small number of claims with respect to the conflict and we remain confident in our combined ratio guidance of around 90% for the full year.”
Beazley announced investments and cash at $7.7 billion from $6.7 billion year-on-year, alongside a year-to-date investment return loss of 1.2% against a 0.4% return in Q1 2021.
