Insurance group Hiscox (HSX) is focusing on growing its business, which means it will hold back surplus funds instead of returning them to shareholders. Hiscox has declared a special dividend every year since 2012, but announced its last one-off return for the 2015 financial year - worth 16p a share and well below the 45p-a-share payout in 2014 - alongside a mixed set of financial results.
Pre-tax profits may have dropped 6 per cent last year, but that was actually 5 per cent ahead of Peel Hunt's estimate of £205m. Hiscox Re - which encompasses the group's global reinsurance businesses and insurance linked security activity - did well thanks to a benign hurricane season, while rising costs and pricing pressure meant the retail and London market divisions fell short of analysts' expectations. The retail business accounts for half of the group’s gross written premium, equivalent to roughly £976m in 2015.
All that said, the reinsurance business managed to drive a better than expected reserve release of £206m, which underpinned the group combined ratio of 85 per cent.
Analysts at Peel Hunt expect adjusted EPS of 61.8p this year, with year-end net tangible assets of 484p a share.
| HISCOX (HSX) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,009p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.87bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,007-1,010p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,067p | LOW: 783p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.4%* | PE RATIO: | 29 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 537p | COMBINED RATIO: | 85% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Gross premiums (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Investment return (£m) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1.45 | 17 | 24.0 | 17.0 |
| 2012 | 1.57 | 217 | 92.0 | 18.0 |
| 2013 | 1.70 | 245 | 60.0 | 21.0 |
| 2014 | 1.76 | 231 | 56.2 | 22.5 |
| 2015 | 1.94 | 216 | 35.4 | 24.0 |
| % change | +11 | -6 | -37 | +7 |
Ex-div: 10 Mar Payment: 7 Apr *Does not include special dividends (2015: 16p a share) Capacity owned 73% | ||||
