For some investors it may seem counterintuitive that the performance of insurance companies can deteriorate due to a dearth of disaster-linked claims. Lloyd's insurer Beazley (BEZ) is a case in point.
The company is witnessing price declines across the reinsurance lines it underwrites, on the back of a benign claims environment. Beazley has scaled back its reinsurance treaty business as premium rates faltered through 2014. The company's combined operating ratio, which measures underwriting profitability, came in at 89 per cent last year compared with 84 per cent in 2013. This was in line with the five-year average, so it's hardly a disaster. However, it underscores the low level of catastrophe-exposed business. In other words: no news is bad news. Nevertheless, Beazley's gross written premium to the end of December was $2.02bn (£1.31bn), a 3 per cent increase over 2013.
The insurer's chief underwriting officer, Neil Maidment, recently stated that he expects increased competition in the large risk market in 2015. Subsequent to those comments, Mr Maidment pocketed nearly £3m when he offloaded 1m shares in the insurer following release of mixed full-year figures. That still leaves the underwriter with 2.9m shares.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| 3i | Alastair Cox | 06 Feb 15 | 3,000 | 475.4 | 14,262 | 22,900 | 0.002 |
| 3i | David Hutchison | 06 Feb 15 | 3,000 | 475.4 | 14,262 | 53,966 | 0.006 |
| 3i | Jonathan Asquith | 06 Feb 15 | 3,000 | 475.4 | 14,262 | 10,602 | 0.001 |
| 3i | Martine Verluyten | 06 Feb 15 | 3,000 | 475.4 | 14,262 | 18,000 | 0.002 |
| 3i | Sir Adrian Montague (ch) | 06 Feb 15 | 6,311 | 475.4 | 30,002 | 90,905 | 0.009 |
| Avesco | Graham Andrews | 09 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 120 | 12,000 | 279,183 | 1.463 |
| BlueRock Diamonds | John Kilham | 10 Feb 15 | 50,000 | 11.5 | 5,750 | 300,000 | 0.952 |
| Compass | Paul Walsh (ch) | 06 Feb 15 | 5,000 | 1,133 | 56,650 | 16,411 | 0.001 |
| Diageo (ADRs) | Ivan Menezes (ce) | 06 Feb 15 | 34,400 | 2,913.25 | 1,002,158 | 749,517 | 0.030 |
| Distil | Mark Quinn | 05 Feb 15 | 500,000 | 0.7475 | 3,738 | 4,000,000 | 0.916 |
| Distil | Mark Quinn | 05 Feb 15 | 250,000 | 0.7875 | 1,969 | 4,250,000 | 0.973 |
| Dods | Mark Beck (ce) | 09 Feb 15 | 230,570 | 6.5 | 14,987 | 452,600 | 0.133 |
| Eurasia Mining | Christian Schaffalitzky | 09 Feb 15 | 1,818,182 | 0.55 | 10,000 | 33,134,300 | 2.924 |
| Eurasia Mining | Dmitry Suschov | 09 Feb 15 | 16,727,273 | 0.55 | 92,000 | 281,558,049 | 24.846 |
| Flybe | Philip de Klerk (cfo) | 10 Feb 15 | 26,000 | 57.5 | 14,950 | 120,250 | 0.056 |
| Griffin Mining Ltd | Adam Usdan | 06 Feb 15 | 250,000 | 26.5 | 66,250 | 29,544,113 | 16.501 |
| Griffin Mining Ltd | Adam Usdan | 10 Feb 15 | 250,000 | 26.5 | 66,250 | 30,044,113 | 17.066 |
| Griffin Mining Ltd ♥ | Adam Usdan | 09 Feb 15 | 250,000 | 26.5 | 66,250 | 29,794,113 | 16.641 |
| Indivior | Shaun Thaxter (ce) | 11 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 151.2 | 15,120 | 120,000 | 0.017 |
| Indivior | Shaun Thaxter (ce) | 11 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 163.36 | 16,336 | 130,000 | 0.018 |
| Indivior | Shaun Thaxter (ce) | 11 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 162.24 | 16,224 | 140,000 | 0.019 |
| Indivior | Shaun Thaxter (ce) | 11 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 161.33 | 16,133 | 150,000 | 0.021 |
| Indivior | Shaun Thaxter (ce) | 11 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 162.8 | 16,280 | 160,000 | 0.022 |
| Lowland Inv Co | Peter Troughton (ch) | 09 Feb 15 | 120 | 1,309 | 1,571 | 17,894 | 0.067 |
| Mosman Oil and Gas Ltd | John Barr (ch) | 11 Feb 15 | 100,000 | 9.75 | 9,750 | 10,450,001 | 11.508 |
| NWF | Brendon Banner (fd) | 05 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 135.5 | 13,550 | 10,000 | 0.021 |
| Porta Communications Ω | Brian Blasdale | 11 Feb 15 | 1,300,000 | 7.5 | 97,500 | 3,117,322 | 1.165 |
| REA Holdings | M Parry | 06 Feb 15 | 6,500 | 304.58 | 19,798 | 25,822 | 0.074 |
| RM2 International SA | Jan Dekker | 06 Feb 15 | 100,000 | 48 | 48,000 | 2,500,000 | 0.775 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Ruth Cairnie | 09 Feb 15 | 215 | 902 | 1,939 | 4,983 | <0.001 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Ian Davis (ch) | 09 Feb 15 | 219 | 902 | 1,975 | 19,668 | 0.001 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | John Neill | 09 Feb15 | 353 | 902 | 3,184 | 45,642 | 0.002 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Sir Frank Chapman | 09 Feb 15 | 439 | 902 | 3,960 | 10,037 | 0.001 |
| Scholium | Charles Sebag-Montefiore | 10 Feb 15 | 20,000 | 48 | 9,600 | 40,000 | 0.294 |
| Scholium | Philip Blackwell (ce) | 09 Feb 15 | 18,750 | 48 | 9,000 | 1,983,466 | 14.584 |
| Scholium | Simon Southwood (fd) | 09 Feb 15 | 20,000 | 47.925 | 9,585 | 20,000 | 0.147 |
| Scholium | Thomas Jennings | 09 Feb 15 | 1,200,000 | 42 | 504,000 | 2,931,320 | 21.554 |
| Scientific Digital Imaging * | Ken Ford (ch) | 10 Feb 15 | 625,000 | 10 | 62,500 | 1,000,000 | 3.038 |
| Sefton Resources Inc * | Daniel Levi | 05 Feb 15 | 21,650,000 | 0.05 | 10,825 | 21,650,001 | 2.024 |
| Severn Trent | PJ Remnant | 05 Feb 15 | 700 | 2,115.88 | 14,811 | 700 | <0.001 |
| Severn Trent ♥ | PJ Remnant | 05 Feb 15 | 700 | 2,115.88 | 14,811 | 1,400 | 0.001 |
| SSE | Sue Bruce | 10 Feb 15 | 613 | 1,609 | 9,863 | 1,590 | <0.001 |
| SSE | Sue Bruce | 10 Feb 15 | 613 | 1,609 | 9,863 | 2,203 | <0.001 |
| Stellar Diamonds * | Dr. Markus Elsasser | 05 Feb 15 | 1,034,482 | 1.16 | 12,000 | 46,719,199 | 5.754 |
| Stellar Diamonds * | Luis da Silva | 05 Feb 15 | 689,655 | 1.16 | 8,000 | 3,265,674 | 0.402 |
| Stellar Diamonds * | Steven Poulton | 05 Feb 15 | 1,505,689 | 1.16 | 17,466 | 7,470,145 | 0.920 |
| Stellar Diamonds * | Peter Daresbury (ch) | 05 Feb 15 | 948,017 | 1.16 | 10,997 | 10,432,824 | 1.285 |
| Vedanta Resources ♥ | Navin Agarwal | 05 Feb 15 | 17,006 | 466.25 | 79,290 | 34,646 | 0.013 |
| Vedanta Resources ♥ | Navin Agarwal | 05 Feb 15 | 17,014 | 466.25 | 79,328 | 249,300 | 0.093 |
| Versarien | Will Battrick | 09 Feb 15 | 54,000 | 17.8259 | 9,626 | 7,679,000 | 7.277 |
| Versarien | Chris Leigh (fd & cs) | 09 Feb 15 | 50,000 | 18.1 | 9,050 | 165,000 | 0.156 |
| Versarien | Neil Ricketts (ce) | 09 Feb 15 | 54,000 | 17.8259 | 9,626 | 15,304,000 | 14.503 |
| Whitbread | Nicholas Cadbury (fd) | 06 Feb 15 | 200 | 4,903.88 | 9,808 | 2,025 | 0.001 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Alternative Networks * | Edward Spurrier (ce) | 11 Feb 15 | 672,335 | 480 | 3,227,208 | 3,076,065 | 6.359 |
| Alternative Networks * | James Murray (ch) | 11 Feb 15 | 672,335 | 480 | 3,227,208 | 14,344,488 | 29.654 |
| Amati VCT ♥ | Peter Lawrence (ch) | 09 Feb 15 | 13,395 | 67 | 8,975 | 172,406 | 0.334 |
| Beazley | Neil Maidment | 06 Feb 15 | 1,000,000 | 295.74 | 2,957,400 | 2,907,523 | 0.558 |
| Belvoir Lettings | Mike Goddard (ch & ce) | 09 Feb 15 | 1,250,000 | 115 | 1,437,500 | 7,723,922 | 32.169 |
| Character Group (The) ♢ | Richard King (ch) | 11 Feb 15 | 100,000 | 365 | 365,000 | 2,068,210 | 9.942 |
| Character Group (The) ♢ | Richard King (ch) | 06 Feb 15 | 150,000 | 365 | 547,500 | 2,168,210 | 10.224 |
| GW Pharmaceuticals | Christopher Tovey | 09 Feb 15 | 10,000 | 404.2 | 40,420 | 2,500 | 0.001 |
| Innovation Group (The) | Andrew Roberts (ce) | 05 Feb 15 | 3,234,599 | 29.51 | 954,530 | 5,988,721 | 0.490 |
| Nasstar | Lord Daresbury | 05 Feb 15 | 312,500 | 8 | 25,000 | 4,788,562 | 1.307 |
| Paragon Group of Companies (The) | Alan Fletcher | 09 Feb 15 | 35,000 | 433.2 | 151,620 | 60,000 | 0.020 |
| Paragon Group of Companies (The) | Alan Fletcher | 09 Feb 15 | 30,000 | 433.1 | 129,930 | 95,000 | 0.031 |
| Port Erin Biopharma Invs * | Sir Jim Mellon (ch) | 05 Feb 15 | 3,095,563 | 15.87 | 491,266 | 6,729,273 | 29.011 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party Ω ISA/SIPP/Trust † depositary receipts ♢ buyback | |||||||
