Beazley beats consensus as rates improve

Improving rates and a surge in investment income meant Beazley (BEZ) reported pre-tax profits almost a fifth ahead of consensus market expectations for 2019. That meant that while heightened claims across some business lines and lower reserve releases caused a rise in the combined ratio, that metric still came in at the bottom end of the range previously guided to by management. That is expected to fall to the mid-90s in 2020 and low-90s over the medium term, if the rate rises experienced over the past two years continue.