Hiscox and Lancashire mid-year results – resilience in a challenging market

Hiscox delivered a solid first half for 2025, with net insurance premiums rising 6.2% to $2.94 billion, driven by continued momentum in their Retail division. The group’s pre-tax profit stood at $276.6 million, a modest 2% decline on last year’s $283.5 million, as Hiscox absorbed a $170 million hit from the California wildfires—one of the industry’s largest claims events on record.

Underwriting was resilient, with the undiscounted combined ratio of 92.6%, reflecting expansion in Retail, and a strong showing from their London Market segment, which achieved its fifth consecutive combined ratio in the 80s at 87.9%. Despite catastrophe losses, HiscoxRe & ILS delivered a small underwriting profit with a combined ratio of 99.5%. The group’s investment income surged to $234.9 million, underpinning an operating return on tangible equity of 14.5%. Hiscox declared an interim dividend of 14.4 cents per share and expanded its share buyback programme by $100 million, now totalling $275 million.

Lancashire Holdings also posted robust H1 results, with gross premiums written up by 5.8% to $1.356 billion, and insurance revenue increasing by 8.9% to $930.1 million. The insurance service result was $155.7 million.

The combined ratio stood at 87.4%, with the undiscounted ratio at 97.8%, reflecting controlled underwriting in spite of substantial catastrophe losses, notably from California wildfires.

Profit after tax reached $109.2 million, down from $200.8 million in H1 2024. Nonetheless, investment returns strengthened to 3.7%, supporting capital growth. Lancashire raised its full-year Return on Equity (ROE) guidance from the mid‑teens to high‑teens, assuming a comparable loss environment in H2. The board also confirmed a $0.40 dividend per share, in line with guidance.

Argenta view:

Both Hiscox and Lancashire demonstrated resilience in absorbing the impact of the Californian wildfires. Hiscox’s diversified underwriting and strong reserve releases helped limit erosion of profitability, while Lancashire’s diversified portfolio underpinned by reinsurance strength delivered strong combined ratios.

For members of Lloyd’s the performance of Hiscox’s London market division is more reflective of Syndicate 33, and the half year results are very encouraging. Syndicates 33 and 6104 write reinsurance business via Hiscox Re and ILS. While the result was marginal here, the first half year includes losses attributable to the wildfires in Los Angeles in January. This event is proving to be one of the most expensive for the reinsurance market in recent years.

These half-year results reaffirm their competitive positioning and financial strength—even in the face of one of the costliest wildfire events in history. They demonstrate the value of diversification, disciplined underwriting, and proactive capital management.

The full H1 results presentation for Hiscox can be found here: www.hiscoxgroup.com/investors/results-and-presentations

The full H1 results presentation for Lancashire can be found here:

https://www.lancashiregroup.com/en/investors/results-reports-and-presentations.category1.year2025.html

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Following the release of the interim results for Lancashire Holdings, we have been provided with updated forecasts by Lancashire Syndicates Limited for the 2023 and 2024 years of account as at 30^th June 2025. These are as follows:

Syndicate 2010

Syndicate results and forecasts are expressed as a percentage of allocated capacity and are after all standard personal expenses but before members' agents' charges.