dive in pre-tax profits for its most recently released accounts.

Lloyd's -- which gives its annual results with a three-year delay -- has posted preliminary results showing a profit of 606 million ($988 million) for the 1996 fiscal year compared to 1.15 billion in 1995.

But buried in the gloomy report yesterday was a ranking of all Lloyd's syndicates which showed two managed by Bermudian-based ACE Underwriting Agencies, now known as ACE Global Markets, performed in the top ten.

Both syndicates were in the marine sector and posted preliminary results showing profits exceeding 20 percent of capacity.

Lloyd's revealed pure year profit was 359 million ($585 million) down from 1.005 billion ($1.638 billion) in 1995.

The insurer projected profits of 70 million ($114 million) in 1997 and losses of around 60 million ($97.8 million) in 1998.

Lloyd's chief executive officer Ron Sandler said the overall figures represented "another good return for members''.

But he said a combination of falling premium rates and worsening claims experience had affected the global insurance industry for the past two years.

Leading financial analyst Moody's warned that the most recent results would be the last significant profits for some time and marketwide losses could be around the corner.

Under Lloyd's three-year accounting rules managing agencies are only now posting final underwriting results for the 1996 year of account which closed at the end of last year.

Marine syndicates performed particularly well proving to be the most profitable market sector with several posting profits exceeding 20 percent of capacity and the sector as a whole posting an overall result of 12.8 percent.

The life sector also performed well, posting a profit of 6.6 percent of capacity. In contrast automobile insurance business fared much worse. It recorded a loss of 7.1 percent and Moody's analysts predicted the motor sector would remain unprofitable until at least 2000. Final figures for the 1996 year will be published in Lloyd's global results and annual report 1998 in early May.

Moody's senior Lloyd's analyst Dominic Simpson described the latest figures as "respectable''.

"The 1996 profit of 6.1 percent is, however, slightly below our expectations due in the main to the fact that underwriters proved to be more prudent in their reserving than we had anticipated,'' he said.

"It is important to remember when examining the positive results posted today that Lloyd's reports three years in arrears. For most underwriters operating in today's market such profits are a distant memory.

"Severe market competition has seriously eroded profit margins to such an extent that Lloyd's itself is forecasting a pure year profit for 1997 of about 0.7 percent and a pure year loss for 1998 of around 0.6 percent.''