Lancashire Holdings Limited had a $7.1 million loss for the six months ended June 30, 2022, after strong growth of 34.6 per cent in gross premiums written year on year to $938.1 million.

“We continue to see attractive rate increases across a number of business lines with a renewal price index for the first six months of 106 per cent,” group chief executive officer Alex Maloney said.

Lancashire has successfully diversified its underwriting portfolio in recent years.

“I am pleased that we are seeing a strong performance from a number of these newer classes of business while we are also continuing to benefit from those products where we have longer-standing expertise,” Mr Maloney said.

“This has resulted in an excellent underwriting performance for the first half of 2022 with a combined ratio of 78.2 per cent and profit before tax of $78 million.”

The war in Ukraine has so far led to net losses of some $22 million, excluding the impact of reinstatement premiums.

While broader macroeconomic issues are impacting the global economy, Mr Maloney said the strong rate environment for many of their products is the best they have seen for more than a decade.

He predicted this would continue through the second half of this year and into next year.

During the first half of 2022, the investment environment proved volatile and the upward trend in American interest rates resulted in a negative investment performance of 3.8 per cent, or in dollar terms an investment loss of $85.8 million.

“Overall, our investment strategy remains conservative and the return to a higher interest-rate environment should boost future earnings in our portfolio,” Mr Maloney said.

“We continue to be strongly capitalised giving us the firepower to execute our long-term strategy to grow premiums where we believe there are attractive returns while retaining our strict focus on underwriting discipline.”