Brit Insurance Holdings plc has reported a pre-tax loss of £114.5m for 2001, compared to a profit of £1.5m the year previously.
The group's operating loss for 2001 was £112.7m. Of this operating loss, £90.5m stemmed from the World Trade Centre (WTC) attacks.
The company said that even without the WTC losses the year would have been disappointing as it had been hit by the Hughes satellite and Petrobras oil rig losses, the Toulouse refinery explosion and the Air Lanka loss, among others.
Brit said it will not be paying a final dividend for 2001. Chairman Jo Welman explained this was because "the effects of improved pricing were overtaken by an appalling series of catastrophic losses, exacerbated by negative returns from equity markets".
However, gross written premiums for 2001 rose by more than 50% to £374m from £249m the year before. The group's capacity for 2002 has increased to £508m.
Today the board also announced the appointment of Clive Coates as a non-executive director and non-executive deputy chairman and Michael Wade as a non-executive director with effect from 29 April 2002.
