Helios has revealed that Martin Reith has stepped down from his role as Chief Executive Officer. Michael Wade, currently Non-Executive Chairman, will immediately become Executive Chairman as the search for Reith’s successor begins.
Meanwhile, Nigel Hanbury, currently Executive Deputy Chairman, will become Non-Executive Deputy Chairman.
Michael Wade, Executive Chairman of Helios, commented, “Martin has made a significant contribution to Helios and has been instrumental in developing the Helios spread syndicate portfolio, accelerating the performance of the Company and growing our in-house management team. We wish him the very best for the future.”
In its full year 2023 financial results, Helios achieved a total comprehensive profit of £29.9 million, up from a loss of £0.1 million in 2022, while its capacity portfolio combined ratio improved to 86%.
Helios explained that it has positioned itself to “maximise growth opportunities” by doubling the size of its capacity portfolio over the last two years to £507 million (up 63%), as the market experiences “outstanding financial performance” underpinned by strong pricing and underwriting discipline.
For the full year 2023, Helios’ gross premiums written increased to £308 million, marking an increase of 26% from 2022’s £244 million figure.
Helios has since reiterated its intention to continue to act for third-party capital providers and anticipates this will grow as a proportion into 2025.
The firm’s Board also confirmed that it has explored the potential of establishing a new ‘follow only’ syndicate at Lloyd’s. Still, it has decided not to pursue this concept to focus exclusively on supporting its spread portfolio.
