Lancashire reports $321.3 million profit, misses consensus by 3.3%

By Scott Vincent

March 6 - (The Insurer) - London-listed Lancashire reported a profit after tax of $321.3 million in its 2024 full-year earnings announcement on Thursday morning, missing consensus by 3.3%.

The result was achieved following gross written premium growth of 11.3% to $2.15 billion.

Within its reinsurance segment, GWP was up 13.5%, driven by property and specialty reinsurance lines.

The insurance segment reported GWP growth of 9.1%, driven by new business in the property class.

Insurance revenue was up 16.1% year on year to $1.77 billion.

The undiscounted combined ratio of 89.1% missed consensus by 2.1 percentage points.

Large losses totalled $214 million, up from $106 million in 2023. Catastrophe and weather losses accounted for $123 million of the 2024 total, alongside $91.4 million of man-made losses.

Lancashire reported no change to its previous guidance for a California wildfire loss of $145 million to $165 million, which will be booked in the first quarter of 2025.

Based on a similar level of catastrophes and large losses to last year, the carrier said it expects to deliver a return on equity in the mid-teens in 2025.

Alongside its ordinary dividend of $0.15 per share, Lancashire also announced a special dividend of $0.25 per share. This brings total dividends with respect to 2024 to $294.3 million.