US-based Navigators Group said that its International Marine business produced “solidly profitable” underwriting results for Q2, with a combined ratio of 94.4% roughly in line with Q2 2015. It said that growth remained challenging in International Marine, particularly in London, with major classes of business such as Cargo, Specie, and Marine Energy liability down slightly compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
“Having said that London continues to be the largest Social Marine marketplace in the world and we continue to invest in strengthening our Marine team at Lloyd’s, having added new underwriters from Marine liability and haul during the quarter”, the company said
The US Marine insurance results were termed “exceptionally strong”. The combined ratio of 78.4% in part reflected favourable loss emergence in a number of key marine product lines. These included marine liability, craft and US customs bonds.
However, premium volume for marine liability – Navigators’ largest ocean marine product line — was down about 10% for the quarter. This was more than offset by strong growth in the ocean cargo and craft product lines.
Renewal rates for U.S. marine were down 2.8% for the quarter, although Navigators said that it had experienced renewal rate increases on the cargo and craft account.
Navigators reported quarterly earnings $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the analyst consensus estimate by 17¢. The company posted revenue of $267.90m in the period, fractionally lower than analyst expectations of $269.93m. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% year on year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS.