Atrium has ruled itself out of becoming the next Lloyd's insurer to abandon the London market in favour of Bermuda.

The company said it had no intention of redomiciling to the offshore market or establishing a subsidiary on the island like fellow managing agents Catlin, Hiscox and Omega.

Steve Cook, chief executive, told Insurance Times: "It is true that we do a lot of US business [75%-80% of its business is written in US dollars], but the nature of those business classes is not traditionally written out in Bermuda."

Meanwhile, the managing agent has revealed that it has been severely hit by the US dollar exchange rate for the first half of 2006.

Atrium's profit before tax halved from £15m to £7.9m following the impact of foreign exchange.

This compares to a profit of £13.7m in 2005.

Gross written premiums fell slightly from £94.5m in 2005 to £93.6m with the company's combined ratio rising by 5% to 90%.