Chaucer said 2006 has started encouragingly with January renewal rates matching expectations in most areas.
In a trading update, Chaucer said it wrote £125.8m of premium (net of brokerage) in January, which is approximately 28% of the current plan for the year. The insurer said this compares favourably with the January 2005 figure of £110.3m.
The company said that following a record hurricane season, underwriting conditions across affected marine and non marine classes improved. Classes including aviation and specialist lines that were not directly affected by the catastrophic events of 2005, have fallen, albeit more slowly than originally forecast.
In response to these opportunities, Chaucer Syndicate 1084 increased its underwriting capacity to £450m for 2006, from £400.2m for the previous year.
Chaucer's underwriting interest increased to £416.3m or 92.5% of capacity, from £362.3m or 90.5% in 2005.
Nuclear Syndicate 1176 increased its underwriting capacity by £4.4m to £22.5m for 2006 to take advantage of further underwriting opportunities.
Chaucer's share of capacity is £11.9m (49.4%), an increase of £2.3m.
Chaucer also indicated that its 2003 underwriting interests of £266.2m resulted in an average profit of 19.4%.
It added that mid-point forecasts for 2004 also look encouraging, with a 1.2% increase for interests of £317.1m.
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