B.p Marsh Regulatory News (BPM)

5th March 2020

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc

("B.P. Marsh", "the Company" or "the Group")

Investee Company Update - Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting Limited

B.P. Marsh, the specialist investor in early stage financial services businesses, is pleased to provide an update on its Canadian Investment, Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting Limited ("SSRU").

SSRU is the provider of specialty insurance products to a wide array of clients with severe exposures in the Construction, Manufacturing, Natural Resources, Public Entity and Transportation sectors. SSRU commenced operations in February 2017.

For the year ended 31 December 2019, SSRU wrote Gross Written Premium of CA$10.8m and is primed to enter its next stage of growth.

Part of this growth has seen SSRU establish a new Property Department, which went live in December 2019. SSRU have capacity of CA$15m and now provide a variety of primary and excess Property products tailored to individual clients in the Natural Resources, Complex Commercial and Construction segments.

As part of this new offering, SSRU has announced the appointment of Heather Jamieson as Vice President of SSRU's Property division. Having worked in the Insurance industry for more than a decade, Heather joins SSRU to head their new Property division. Her experience includes positions of increasing responsibility at Allianz and Zurich in Canada where she specialised in Mining, Power Generation and Oil & Gas business.

SSRU have also made a number of other senior appointments for the next phase of its growth. Peter Lee has been appointed as Vice President of Casualty, joining SSRU with over 25 years' experience, having spent most of his career dealing with complex commercial casualty business as both an underwriter and a broker, most notably with ACE INA Insurance and Northbridge Insurance. SSRU have also promoted Victor Ip, to be Senior Vice President of Casualty. Victor has been with SSRU since formation and has been a central part of SSRU's past and on-going success. Georgiana Pasca has also been promoted to Chief Financial Officer, having been with SSRU since formation. She has played a key role in ensuring stability as the company grows through the development and implementation of financial and operational processes and controls. Georgiana holds a master's degree in international finance and a CRM designation.

Commenting on this development, SSRU's President and CEO Stephen Stewart stated:

"The appointment of Heather Jamieson, alongside the establishment of a new Property facility, strengthens and develops SSRU's capabilities at an important time in SSRU's development.

The business has grown steadily since formation and it has always been our intention to substantially develop SSRU, alongside our investment partners, B.P. Marsh, over the next five years. The appointment and promotions form a central part of our growth plans."

Commenting on the Canadian insurance market, Stephen Stewart added:

"The Canadian insurance market differs in many respects from its American counterpart. While its economy is closely integrated with that of the United States, the Canadian legal climate is very different, providing for much lower indemnity judgments with a virtual absence of punitive and general damage awards. This produces a less volatile and more consistently profitable result for Casualty lines.

"The Canadian Property insurance environment is markedly less exposed to natural catastrophe than its American neighbour and the market is currently experiencing severe rate hardening. This hardening is contributing to a much-needed correction to its premium base. Climate change will undoubtedly create a greater frequency and severity of natural catastrophe exposure in both the USA and Canada.

"With less relative exposure, increasing rates and a favourable regulatory environment, the Canadian market is well positioned to face these challenges and provide stability for future renewal cycles."

Daniel Topping, Chief Investment Officer of the Group commented:

"Since SSRU commenced writing business in February 2017, SSRU has grown to Gross Written Premium of over CA$10m. This is an excellent achievement by the SSRU team and we look forward to further supporting their growth over the coming years."

Brian Marsh, Chairman of the Group commented:

"Our backing of Stephen Stewart and his colleagues at SSRU demonstrates both our long term investment approach and our ability to identify and support outstanding management teams. Stephen and his team members deserve congratulations and thanks from B.P. Marsh for this very sturdy performance."

For further information:

Notes to Editors:

B.P. Marsh's current portfolio contains seventeen companies. More detailed descriptions of the portfolio can be found at www.bpmarsh.co.uk.

Since formation over 25 years ago, the Company has assembled a management team with considerable experience both in the financial services sector and in managing private equity investments. Many of the directors have worked with each other in previous roles, and all have worked with each other for approaching ten years.

Since its inception B.P. Marsh has delivered an average annual compound increase in NAV of over 10% and this remains one of the Group's core goals for future years.

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