Randall & Quilter (R&Q) Investment Holdings has revealed that various insurance company transactions will be complete in the next few months, according to the group’s H1 2016 results.
The transactions range from UK insurance company acquisitions to US novations, loss portfolio transfers and the purchase of onshore and offshore US and UK captives, with “a notable trend towards larger transaction sizes and reserve balances”.
The report found that net reserve releases from run-off insurance companies totalled £6.2 million, higher than the previous year, when they stood at £4.3 million.
According to the report, this was led by the proactive claims management strategy in R&Q Re, previously impacted by the ACE surplus maintenance agreement, which was reduced at the end of last year.
The report stated: “La Licorne, R&Q Alpha (previously IC Insurance) and our Guernsey captive consolidator, Capstan, were all additional contributors to the positive reserve development in the period through a combination of favourable settlements and interim reserve reassessments.”
The results also showed that R&Q’s pre-tax profit for H1 2016 was £1.2 million, compared with a loss of £4.5 million for the same period last year.
R&Q’s gross written premiums stood at £21 million in H1 2016, compared with £13.5 million in H1 2015.
Ken Randall, chairman and CEO, commented: “I am pleased to report that the group delivered a significantly stronger performance during the first half of the year compared with 2015, especially when factoring in the additional £5 million boost from foreign exchange gains, not taken through the group’s pre-tax profit. The group’s result is always heavily second half weighted and this year is no exception.”
He added: “The ever increasing supply of new capital to the insurance industry and the expansion of alternative risk transfer vehicles continues to challenge the pace of delivery of attractive income growth and profits in our live operations.”
