Esure Group Share News (ESUR)

(ShareCast News) - Share in esure Group tumbled after the insurer posted a 21% fall in first-half underlying pre-tax profit and announced a cut to its interim dividend as it said the market claims environment remains challenging.Pre-tax profit for the period came in at £46.5m, down from £59.1m in the first half of 2014, despite a 5.8% rise in gross written premiums to £275.5m, as the combined operating ratio, which measures claims and expenses as a share of premiums, rose to 95.8% from 91.9%.As a result, the insurer, which owns Sheila's Wheels and the Gocompare comparison site, cut its interim dividend to 4.2p from 5.1p in the same period last year.Chief executive officer Stuart Vann said: "Our performance in the first half of 2015 is in line with the guidance provided at the time of our 2014 preliminary results announcement."We continued to act in a disciplined manner and implemented rate increases across the portfolio higher than those reported in the various rating indices. The claims environment for the motor market continues to deteriorate and as a consequence we will seek to implement further rate increases in the second half of the year as we look to mitigate against these trends."Vann said he now expects the combined operating ratio for the full year to be in the region of 96% to 97%, assuming normal weather for the remainder of the year.Accendo Markets research analyst Augustin Eden said: "The 10% hit to the share price this morning was the end result of many a shareholder 'holding on' following last year's forward guidance to see if things might be turned around, only to exit en masse at the prospect of 20% less income from their holdings together with a FY 2015 outlook that had the audacity to assume 'normal weather' conditions for the remainder of the year."At 0903 BST, shares were down 10.8% at 236.80p.