Canopius Group sees profit surge during 2023

(Re)insurer Canopius Group boosted its profits in 2023 following a 22% surge in its insurance contract written premium (ICWP).

In a trading update, the firm revealed it secured an ICWP of $2.80bn (£2.19bn) during the year, up from $2.29bn (£1.79bn) in 2022.

In turn, this helped the business secure a profit after tax of $363m (£283m) in 2023, up from $129 (£101m) the previous year.

Net insurance revenue also increased 10% year-on-year to $1.77bn (£1.38), while the tangible net asset value increased to $1.45bn (£1.13bn).

And the group’s net combined ratio stood at 88.7% on an undiscounted basis, improving to 83.9% on a discounted basis.

It said that growth and profitability across all three business regions, including the UK, was helped by the absence of large catastrophe claims and “satisfactory attritional losses, including positive current and prior year developments”.

Neil Robertson, group chief executive, said: “We have a clear vision against which we are executing our strategy – to deliver attractive and sustainable returns as a leading, dynamic international specialty and P&C (re)insurer, growing in areas where we have distinction or competitive advantage.

”I am pleased to report another year of strong delivery against this vision and we are now establishing a track record of meeting our underwriting goals, quarter-on-quarter.”

Outlook

Looking ahead to 2024, Roberston said the year had started well for the group due to its premium development, positive rate and ”satisfactory reinsurance renewals”.

He felt the ”broader rating environment remains dynamic and is being driven by several factors”.

This includes shifts in reinsurance rate, capacity, terms and conditions and movements in interest yields.

“Decisive actions have been taken to accelerate delivery in the last few years and execution against our plans remains of utmost focus,” Roberston said.

”Combined with a still positive overall rating environment, we look forward with confidence to navigating what 2024 brings and further developing our value proposition to drive consistent performance and build on our success and momentum achieved in 2023.”