Amlin profit down 3.5% in first half; CEO denies sale

Amlin P.L.C. posted pretax profit of £143.3 million ($163.2 million) for the first half of 2015, down 3.5% from the comparable period last year, the London-based insurer and reinsurer announced Monday.

Amlin, which operates multiline Lloyd’s of London syndicate 2001 and insurance companies in Switzerland and the Netherlands, said the results had been affected in part by a change in the way it accounts for the seasonality of earned premium for catastrophe reinsurance.

In a conference call with analysts Monday, Charles Philipps, CEO of Amlin, responded to speculation that the company was in sell-off talks and said it was not for sale.

Amlin said gross written premiums totaled £2.01 billion ($2.29 billion) in the first half of 2015, up 6.4% from the first six months of 2014.

Amlin said its combined ratio was 91% for the first half of 2015, compared with 87% in the first half of 2014.

The company said its investment return for the first half of 2015 was £95.9 million ($109.2 million), up 75% compared with the first half of 2014.

Amlin said that there was continued pricing pressure in some lines of business during the first half of 2015, notably energy and reinsurance.

Overall, it said, rates fell by an average 4.0% in the first half.