* Hiscox FY pretax down 5.5 pct to 231.1 million stg
* Amlin FY pretax down 21 pct to 258.7 mln
* Hiscox ups special payout to 45pence/shr
* Amlin issues first special dividend since 2006 of 15p/shr
By Richa Naidu and Aashika Jain
March 2 (Reuters) - British insurance underwriters Amlin Plc and Hiscox Ltd have offered special payouts toinvestors, in a bid to ease concerns over squeezed premiums thatpushed earnings lower last year.
Over the past two years, global insurance prices have eitherstagnated or fallen due to fierce competition betweenunderwriters of almost all types of insurance, particularly theonce-lucrative catastrophe market.
Amlin and Hiscox, two of the most prominent insurers withinthe Lloyd's of London market, hoped to soothe thesepricing concerns on Monday by promising special dividends,following a trend set this year by peers including Brit and Catlin.
Hiscox, which said its full-year pretax profit fell 5.5percent to 231.1 million pounds, raised its 2014 special payoutto 45 pence per share, while Amlin issued its first specialdividend since 2006 of 15p per share.
Beazley is the only Lloyd's insurer to have cut itsspecial dividend this year, saying it needed to prepare for evenlower rates in 2015 that could hurt margins.
Amlin, whose full-year pretax profit fell 21 percent to258.7 million pounds, also forecast worse reinsurance rates in2015, while Hiscox CEO Bronek Masojada told Reuters he expecteda drop of between 5 and 10 percent, adding insurance rates wouldbe flat.
Both companies' chiefs also said they didn't see the need tobe a part of the M&A wave sweeping through the Lloyd's of Londonmarket, as they have other means of expanding.
A handful of Lloyd's insurers are being watched closely aspotential targets, after Catlin and Brit were picked off bylarger overseas rivals looking to strengthen their positions inthe world's largest insurance market.
Amlin CEO Charles Phillips said he did not see an urgentneed to participate in merger activity as Amlin was fulfillingits "desire for scale" by reorganising its operations.
Similarly, Hiscox's Masojada said the company haddemonstrated its ability to grow independently, particularly inits retail business. "We're a material player in London, so wedon't feel that we need more scale or presence in order toparticipate," he said.
He declined to comment when asked whether Hiscox wouldconsider a takeover approach, or if it had received any so far. (Editing by David Holmes)