A sparkling performance from its retail insurance arm helped to offset a fall in reinsurance profits for Lloyd's insurer Hiscox (HSX) at the half-year stage. Notable successes on the retail side included luxury car insurance, which benefited from significant investment in marketing, while business volumes are expected to rise following the acquisition of RH Specialist Insurance, the classic car insurer formerly owned by insurer Willis.
On the reinsurance side, a benign claims environment and increased competition from pension funds seeking to invest in the market continued to drives rates lower, with rates on US property catastrophe business down 10 per cent, for example. Hiscox admitted that profitability here is being propped up by a lack of large catastrophe losses. However, these tend to happen in the second half of the year, and the hurricane season could yet supply some unpleasant surprises.