Lloyd's insurer Amlin plc released syndicate results today, showing updated forecasts for the 2000 and 2001 years of account, and plans to increase capacity to £1.1bn.
The company commented that trading conditions remain strong, adding: "Amlin believes that these excellent conditions will continue for the remainder of 2002, into 2003, and that a favourable underwriting environment could endure for longer."
The insurer predicts that due to the rate increases recently experienced, premium income will exceed its capacity of £800m. Therefore, for 2003, it estimates it will need up to £1.1bn of capacity. To achieve this, it has arranged a new £50m qualifying quota share reinsurance facility with Montpelier Re.
With this, and the £50m XL Re facility announced in March, Syndicate 2001 has the ability to underwrite up to £900m of premium income in 2002.
The insurer announced that Syndicate 2001 continued to experience improvement in its underlying performance in 2001, although, as previously announced, it was affected by World Trade Centre losses. The impact of these events on Syndicate 2001 is still estimated at £77m, which is 33.3% of capacity.
The preliminary forecast for the syndicate's 2001 year of account results, including the World Trade Centre loss, is
-2% to -7% of capacity. Capacity for that year was £574.5m.
Forecasts for the 2000 year of account, as percentages of capacity, were -32.5% to -27.5% for Syndicate 902, -31% to
-26% for Syndicate 1141 and -4 % to +1% for Syndicate 2001.
Chief executive Charles Philipps commented: "Trading conditions remain buoyant in our marketplace and we are delighted that the new £50m facility with Montpelier Re enables us to increase capacity further for 2002 and 2003. We are well placed to take full advantage of these market conditions."
