Lloyd’s, the London-headquartered re/insurance marketplace, has reported a profit before tax of £3.9 billion for the first half of 2023.

That compares with a £1.8 billion loss in the first half of 2022.

Lloyd’s had an underwriting profit of £2.5 billion (HY 2022: £1.2 billion), and a net investment return of £1.8 billion (HY 2022: £3.1 billion loss).

The market’s combined ratio improved 6.2 percentage points to 85.2 per cent (HY 2022: 91.4 per cent).

Gross written premium increased 21.9 per cent to £29.3 billion.

The organisation said GWP was driven by growth from existing syndicates (6.5 per cent), new syndicates (2.2 per cent), foreign currency movements (4.1 per cent) and risk-adjusted rate increases (9.1 per cent).

Major claims represented 3.6 per cent of losses in the first half of the year.

Lloyd’s said its balance sheet continued to strengthen with a central solvency ratio of 438 per cent and market-wide solvency ratio of 194 per cent.

The organisation reported total capital of £40.8 billion (FY 2022: £40.2 billion).

John Neal, CEO, Lloyd’s, said: “We’re pleased to be reporting a strong set of results for the year so far — with profitability in both our underwriting and investments, a leading combined ratio, strong premium growth and a bulletproof balance sheet that means we can support customers through a range of shocks and scenarios.

“Combined with the market’s progress in driving sustainable performance, digitalisation and showing leadership from climate transition to culture change, these results set us up to deliver on our positive financial outlook for 2023.”