Highlights:

• Gross premiums written increased by 34.6% year-on-year to $938.1 million;
• Group RPI (Renewal Price Index) of 106%;
• Excellent underwriting performance, with a combined ratio of 78.2%;
• Profit before tax of $78.0 million;
• Total net investment return of negative 3.8%, primarily driven by unrealised losses (average invested assets of US$2.2bn);

The property and casualty (re)insurance segments were responsible for 90% of the growth in gross written premiums.

Ukraine

"We previously gave a range of $20 million to $30 million for potential incurred losses within Ukraine. Our ultimate net losses incurred within Ukraine since the start of the conflict are towards the lower end of our initial range at $22.0 million (excluding the impact of reinstatement premiums).

"We continue to closely monitor our exposure with regards to Russia, which remains a complex and
fluid situation. We believe that any potential losses would be within our risk tolerances, and would not
impact our strategy or our ability to deliver on our ambitious growth plans."

Other claims

No material losses for the first half of the 2022 year from Ukraine or Australian floods. The first half of 2021 had "Uri" to contend with which cost US$51m.

Claims inflation

Not a major concern for Lancashire - see slide 11 of presentation to analysts available below.

Prior years' movements

US$64.4m of favourable development in the back years, US$10m more than was released for the first half of 2021.

Author's comments

These results apparently pleased the various analysts who follow Lancashire. The shares went up 2% approx at the time of writing. The presentation slides available here mention that "We see further opportunities for profitable underwriting growth during remainder of 2022 and into 2023..." which echoes market-wide sentiment. The slides provide a detailed picture of the change in Lancashire's changing business mix.