Insurance investment firm Randall & Quilter announced a loss in the first half of the year, as legal expenses weighed on results.

But the company continued its expansion through acquisitions and the boosting of capacity of the Lloyd’s syndicate that it manages.

R&Q, which moved its domicile from the UK to Bermuda last year and which has offices in the FB Perry Building on Church Street, posted a loss of £0.6 million in the January through June period, the company said in its interim statement yesterday.

That broke down to a loss of 0.9p per share and compared to a profit of $3 million in the first half of 2013.

The company said it had failed to secure an early determination of a life settlement claim related to the former Syndicate 102, and had therefore had to boost legal expenses reserve for a hearing scheduled for next year, impacting first-half results.

However, R&Q added that “legal advice remains positive as regards our prospects for a successful outcome in this matter.”

R&Q described the first half as “an active period for acquisitions, including a Bermuda captive, a Black Lung Trust, an Isle of Man insurer, a broker run-off and a retrospective reinsurance”.

The company is also working on the proposed acquisition of Accredited Surety and Casualty, an A- rated US carrier to support the growth of fee based underwriting management model.

“The proposed acquisition of Accredited is an exciting development for us and will bring the Group its first ‘A’ rated carrier,” R&Q chairman and chief executive officer Ken Randall said, “We anticipate building on Accredited’s existing business platform over the medium term with the intention of developing a substantial and sustainable fee based model for the Underwriting Management Division.”

R&Q said it had also won a contract to provide outsourcing support for a prospective new syndicate.

The company operates in three divisions. Its Insurance Investments Division’s operating result of £1.6 million was double last year’s £0.8 million with higher investment income of two percent, compared to 1.2 percent in 2013.

The company noted “a higher contribution from new legacy transactions offsetting a lower profit from the insurance debt purchase activity and weaker syndicate results”.

The Insurance Services Division made an operating profit of £3.8 million, down from last year’s £6.3 million.

“A strong performance in the UK operations was offset by a lower result in the US, which did not benefit from the exceptional level of credit write backs it experienced in the prior period,” R&Q said.

The Underwriting Management Division made an operating loss of £0.7 million, compared to a profit of £0.1 million last year, “primarily due to a reduction of profit commission under the provisions of the Syndicate 102 RITC agreement following an increase in legal expense reserves”.

Other highlights included the near doubling of the capacity of Syndicate 1991 to £150 million, with strong support from all previous capital providers as well as Qatar Re, who joined for the 2014 year of account.