Randall & Quilter now fully focused

And there is plenty of business out there, as insurance companies strive to achieve greater capital efficiency by selling off legacy portfolios that are no longer underwriting new business. Its latest acquisition came after the half year-end and was also its largest to date, acquiring Global Re US for around $80.5m (£61m), which represents a slight discount to the company’s current net assets.

On the programme management side, activities in Europe and the US have come under the Accredited brand name. In the US, Accredited is licenced to write ‘admitted’ insurance business (that excludes excess and surplus insurance) in all 50 states and Accredited Europe in all European states.

Operating profits in the first half were up 6 per cent, and could have been even stronger; however, some legacy acquisitions that management had hoped would complete during the reported period will now close in the second half.

A total of seven new programme partnerships have been secured, with management expecting to exceed the targeted 12 agreements by the year-end. These are forecast to generate around $500m in gross written premiums. In Europe, its insurance platform has entered into a number of new partnerships with managing general agent (MGAs) underwriters and into new classes of business.

Analysts at Numis are forecasting pre-tax profit for the year to December 2018 of £27.7m and EPS of 18.6p, up from £9.8m and 25.4p in 2017.