Companies: HDU   

Specialist Lloyd’s insurer Hardy Underwriting Group has upgraded its profits forecast for its managed Syndicate 382 and says it now expects the 2005 underwriting year to show a profit of between 7.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent, against a range of between six and 11 per cent previously estimated. Syndicate results are only finalised after a lag to allow claims to come in under policies written in any given year, but the company says the 2006 year of account is ‘progressing exceptionally well’ and expects to release an estimate for 2007 later in the year.

Fully listed Hardy, steered by formidable chief executive Barbara Merry, says volumes for 2007 for Syndicate 383 and the younger 38Twenty are ‘holding up well’. The company does concede ‘some evidence of rate weakening’, but argues ‘the combination of low loss incidence to date and acceptable margins provide a healthy buffer to withstand adverse catastrophe losses in the second part of the year and so provide the potential for a good result to be achieved in 2007’.

Shares in Hardy, which increased pre-tax profits 124 per cent to £16.8 million last year, are firm at 297p, valuing the company at £105 million. Hold on.

Hardy Underwriting Bermuda	LSE	£98.34m	275.00p	7.50p
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Other company articles:
Hardy Underwriting Bermuda			21/11/2008
Hardy hails ‘improving outlook’			17/11/2008
Interim easing at Hardy			02/09/2008
New fields for Hardy			18/03/2008
First-half growth for Hardy			12/09/2007