Beazley Share News (BEZ)

(Sharecast News) - Insurance company Beazley Group said on Thursday that first-quarter growth had been achieved in most of its divisions, with gross premiums increasing in the three months ended 31 March.

Beazley said gross premiums written increased 16% to $971.0m, while premium rates on renewal business also advanced 16%, ahead of the firm's expectations.

The FTSE 250-listed firm stated its cyber and executive risk division achieved premium growth of 19%, driven in part by continued growth in executive risk, while its largest division, specialty lines, continued to benefit from "positive market conditions".

The company added its marine, property and reinsurance divisions were "performing broadly as expected", while lower contingency renewals within its political, accident and contingency team were said to have been "largely expected" due to ongoing uncertainty around the ability to hold in-person events.

Beazley also swung to an investment return of $27.0m from a loss of $55.0m in the previous year.

Covid-19 first-party loss estimates remained unchanged at $340.0m net of reinsurance, while first-quarter catastrophe losses were pegged to be approximately $70.0m net of reinsurance

Chief executive Adrian Cox said: "We have had a positive start to the year with good rate momentum that is well ahead of our expectations as well as continued strong targeted growth. We expect favourable market conditions to continue and are well-positioned to take advantage of them given our capital surplus remains within our preferred range."

As of 0835 BST, Beazley shares were down 0.66% at 315.30p.