Beazley takes currency knock

27th Jul 2009 10:23

Profits plunged 55% at insurer Beazley during the first half due to currency exchange fluctuations.The UK mid-cap made £20.1m in the six months ended 30 June 2009, but that was way short of the £45m profit recorded a year earlier.This year's number was hurt by a £49.8m foreign exchange loss, which Beazley said resulted mainly from the unwinding of the £46m gain recognised in 2008.Without the foreign exchange adjustments, pre-tax profit rose to £69.9m from £46m.Elsewhere, gross written premiums jumped 46% to £596.4m, net written premiums rose 17% to £341.5m, while renewal premium rates added 5%.The company's investment portfolio generated income of £27m, or an annualised return of 2.9%, up from £13.2m and 1.7% last time."We have positioned ourselves to take advantage of hardening markets and we have already achieved rate increases across substantial parts of our portfolio, particular those affected by the 2008 hurricanes," said chief executive Andrew Horton.The interim dividend grows to 2.3p from 2.2p in 2008.