Beazley reports £22.2m half-year pre-tax profit

Beazley announced a pre-tax profit of £22.2m for the six months ended 30 June 2004.

This represented just under a nine-fold increase on the 2003 half-year profit of £2.5m.

The group's gross written premiums increased to £211m, against £162m during the same period in 2003.

Beazley said it would pay an interim dividend of 0.3p per ordinary share, compared to 0.25p last year.

The combined ratio of the group's managed syndicates stood at 85%, compared to 80% in 2003.

Beazley chief executive Andrew Beazley said: “The trading environment remains strong and we are capitalising on the excellent opportunities offered by our existing business lines.”

“Taking the portfolio as a whole, the group expects rates to remain at these high levels for 2004 and for the market to be generally stable for 2005”.