CATLIN was the best performer in the FTSE 250 yesterday after the insurer unveiled an 89 per cent rise in interim profits to $113 million (£63 million).
In its first results announcement since floating on the London Stock Exchange in April, Catlin said that it would pay a maiden dividend of 4.3p for the six months to June 30. That is in line with an undertaking to return up to 20 per cent of earnings to shareholders. The shares closed up 16¼p at 382½.
Catlin has operations in London and Bermuda. It runs a Lloyd’s of London syndicate and five international offices.
Stephen Catlin, chief executive and deputy chairman, attributed the surge in profits to the opening of offices in Germany and Australia and a strong performance from British and Bermudan business.
The company said that its combined ratio — the ratio between expenses and claims paid and insurance premiums — was lower, at 81.8 per cent, than some rivals, having fallen from 87.8 per cent at the same time last year.
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Catlin underwrites 73 per cent of its business through its Lloyd’s syndicate but Mr Catlin said it was on track to attain a 50-50 balance between Lloyd’s and the wider market by 2007.
Although Catlin expects to generate “superior” return on equity for the full year, it admitted that hurricanes had cost the company between $40 million and $60 million.