Lancashire Holdings has announced that gross premiums written in Q1 of 2024 increased by 7.8% year-on-year to $631.7 million, while its insurance revenue increased by a huge 24.6% year-on-year to $422 million.
As per Lancashire, the reinsurance segment contributed $399.7 million to the Q1 total gross premiums written figure, with the most significant contributor to growth in this segment being in property reinsurance, with new business written across all lines and positive RPIs.
Offsetting this somewhat, Lancashire explained that RPIs were flat in the casualty reinsurance class and there were some exposure reductions on contracts written in prior years.
Meanwhile, in the insurance segment, which contributed $232 million to the Q1 total gross premiums written figure, property insurance was also the main driver of growth.
Lancashire noted that this business class benefited from the recent addition of the new Lancashire U.S. operation, growth from the Lancashire Australia office, and positive RPIs.
“We also continued to write new business across the other insurance classes, somewhat offset by exposure decreases,” the firm added.
Lancashire’s Q1 2024 insurance revenue also improved, increasing by $83.3 million, or 24.6% compared to the same period in 2023.
The firm observed that growth was more substantial for insurance revenue than gross premiums written as it continues to benefit from earnings coming through from prior underwriting years.
Gross premium earned, which is reportedly a major driver of insurance revenue, as a percentage of gross premiums written was 76.6% for Q1 compared to 69.1% in 2023. This increase was largely driven by the casualty treaty book.
Alex Maloney, Lancashire Group Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Lancashire has had a very strong start to 2024, reporting a record quarter. The positive underwriting environment allowed us to grow our business further.
“We are very pleased with the strong team we have built and we believe that there are significant long-term opportunities for Lancashire in this market.”
Maloney continued, “In terms of the loss environment, the market impact of the tragic Baltimore bridge disaster late in the quarter is still being assessed, however, our potential exposure will be within our expectations for an event of this type.
“We affirm the guidance we gave for the 2024 financial year for an undiscounted combined ratio around the mid-80% range, and a return on equity, as measured by the change in diluted book value per share, of around 20%.
“We remain focused on writing profitable business across our diversified product suite, offering relevant solutions to our clients, and fully delivering on our strategic priorities.”
