Hiscox shares dropped 5% to 831.4p in late morning trading on Wednesday after the group swung to a pre-tax loss of $107.4 million in HY1 2022 compared to a profit of $133.4 million the last year.
The insurance firm reported an $87.1 million loss for the financial period from a $119 million profit in HY1 2021.
Hiscox linked $48 million in losses to all risks in Ukraine and Russia, and confirmed an investment result loss of $214.1 million against a profit of $61.9 million year-on-year, as a result of spiking interest rates, widened credit spreads and equity markets selling off.
The company highlighted a rise in gross premiums written to $2.6 billion against $2.4 billion despite FX headwinds from a strengthened US dollar, with rate momentum continuing to hit or exceed inflation expectations across all three divisions.
Hiscox also noted a climb in net premiums earned to $1.44 billion from $1.42 billion, with an underwriting result of $123.2 million compared to $99.8 million in the previous year.
Hiscox swung to a loss per share of 25.3¢ compared to 34.8¢ the year before.
“I am pleased with the Group’s performance during the first half of the year as rate strengthening and disciplined growth drove much-improved underwriting profitability,” said Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain.
“Whilst macro-economic and geo-political concerns are affecting the global economic outlook, our strategy and diverse portfolio of businesses continues to create opportunity, and we are well positioned to generate high quality growth and earnings.”
“Our big-ticket businesses have experienced positive market conditions and our well-balanced portfolio is generating attractive returns.”
Hiscox announced a HY1 dividend of 12¢ from 11.5¢ the last year.