Lloyd's insurer Chaucer Holdings has revealed it has generated a 53% surge in gross written premium income in the first five months of 2003.
Speaking at Chaucer's AGM, the board said this growth was based on sound underwriting performance from its business written in 2002.
At the same time the group announced plans to merge Syndicates 587, 1084 and 1096 for the 2004-year of account. If approved by Lloyd's, the initial capacity of merged Syndicate 1084 for the 2004-year of account is expected to be £400m.
Chaucer also declared that motor rates remained steady in the first five months of 2003. In the non-marine market it said premiums had risen at a decent rate in 2003.
Managing director Ewen Gilmour said: "I am confident that our current performance will translate into excellent results.
"Our motor business continues to perform in line with expectations and remains on guard against any softening of its markets, whilst our marine and non marine businesses continue to benefit from both the strong premium rates in the market and the benign claims experience.
"Our investments also continue to perform positively. We are continuing to work towards a syndicate merger, which I believe will significantly enhance prospects in 2004".
