Broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has forecast the current hard market will remain until 2005.

Announcing its 2003 results JLT posted a 21% increase in pre-tax profit to £101.8m.

The broker also recorded an 11% increase in turnover to £388.1m. The group's trading profit grew by 31% to £79.1m.

Chairman Ken Carter said: "As expected, the hard insurance market continued throughout 2002 and we believe it will continue in this manner for the next two years."

However, Carter added that premium rises in 2003 were not as high as expected.

He added: "However we believe that pricing levels are likely to remain around their current levels throughout 2003 and 2004."

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