Insurer Beazley sees $125-175 mln hit from Hurricanes Helene, Milton
Adds detail, background, CEO comment paragraphs 2-8
LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) -Lloyd's of London insurer Beazley BEZG.L said on Wednesday that its initial view of its net exposure to U.S. hurricanesHelene and Milton was between $125 and $175 million.
Insurers are bracing for large claims from the hurricanes, which caused huge damage in Florida in recent weeks, with analysts predicting up to $55 billion in insured losses.
"Despite an active hurricane season and a global cyber event, we expect to deliver an undiscounted combined ratio of around 80% for the full year," chief executive Adrian Cox said.
Combined ratio is a measure of underwriting profitability, in which a level below 100% indicates a profit.
The insurer upgraded its combined ratio forecast earlier this year after first-half pretax profit nearly doubled.
Beazley, a major cyber insurer, said earlier this year it had no plans to alter its guidance in the wake of the CrowdStrike IT outage . It said on Wednesday that the market was seeing an uptick in severity on ransomware claims but that this was not affecting its outlook.
Insurance written premiums rose by 7% to $4.6 billion in the nine months to end-September and Beazley wason track to deliver its full-year guidance, it said in a trading statement.
Beazley said premium rates on renewed business were flat, compared with a 5% rise a year ago.
Insurance premiums have been rising in the past few years in response to inflation and to losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, wars and natural catastrophes.
However, global commercial insurance rates fell 1% in the third quarter, the first quarterly decline in seven years, according to broker Marsh.
Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Kirstin Ridley and Sinead Cruise
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