Executives at Lancashire Holdings Limited are more positive on the marketplace than they have been for quite some time, and expect the company to grow further in the year ahead.
In its recently announced Q4 2019 financial results, Lancashire reported higher profit as a result of a measured pricing improvement, top line premium growth, and a solid investment performance.
Speaking during the firm’s earnings call, both Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alex Maloney and Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO), Paul Gregory, expressed cautious optimism that the trends witnessed so far will continue throughout 2020.
Maloney stressed that while the market is finally hardening across all classes of business, there is still not a broad dislocation at this point.
“There is still much work to be done before we witness a more sustainable underwriting climate,” said Maloney.
Alongside a more sustainable underwriting landscape, Maloney underlined the elevated level of discipline on display across the space and explained that in 2020, the better underwriting market is set to continue.
“We are more positive about our marketplace than we have been in years,” he continued.
The CEO stressed that in the months ahead Lancashire intends to grow, something the firm has always said it would do in a better market environment. Maloney thinks the market will get better and is confident that the firm will grow with the opportunity while remaining disciplined in its underwriting.
“The market is still transitioning and we are not in a hard market yet,” he reiterated. “We expect to grow more this year.”
Gregory echoed that while conditions are improving across the majority of business lines, it is still not a hard market, and, it’s important to remember where rates are coming from after consecutive heavy loss years and a lot of pain in the system.
“We expect positive rate development to continue into 2020, although market dynamics of supply and demand will dictate the amount and trajectory,” said Gregory.
Ultimately, both Maloney and Gregory feel that there remains positive momentum in the market and expressed confidence that Lancashire will grow with the opportunity.
Were a certain line to become extremely dislocated then that is where you can expect to see Lancashire expand more substantially.
