Helios Underwriting Plc Acquisition (7896L)

TIDMHUW

RNS Number : 7896L

Helios Underwriting Plc

09 July 2014

9 July 2014

Helios Underwriting plc

("HUW" or the "Company")

Acquisition of Lloyd's Limited Liability Vehicle

HUW is pleased to announce that, in line with its strategy of increasing underwriting capacity through acquisition, it has agreed to acquire Dumasco Limited, a limited liability member of Lloyd's ("LLV") for a total consideration of GBP2.5 million in cash. The 2014 underwriting capacity of the LLV is GBP1.5 million; this compares with HUW's 2014 capacity of GBP21.3 million prior to this acquisition. Completion is subject to change of control consent from Lloyd's. The LLV participates in a spread of Lloyd's syndicates broadly similar to HUW's own participation.

Commenting upon the acquisition, Nigel Hanbury, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We are delighted to have agreed a further LLV acquisition which will further increase our underwriting capacity. This is in line with our stated strategy of acquiring corporate members as suitable opportunities arise. We continue to believe that there remain significant opportunities for further growth available to the Company."

For further information please contact:

 
 HUW                                  020 7863 6655 / nigel.hanbury@huwplc.com 
  Nigel Hanbury - Chief Executive      020 7863 6657 / paul.lumbis@huwplc.com 
  Paul Lumbis - Chief Financial 
  Officer 
 Smith & Williamson Corporate 
  Finance 
  David Jones                        020 7131 4000 
 Westhouse Securities 
  Robert Finlay 
  Darren Vickers                     020 7601 6100 
 Haggie Partners 
  Peter Rigby                        020 7562 4444

About HUW

HUW provides a limited liability direct investment into the Lloyd's insurance market and is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market (ticker: HUW). HUW's subsidiary underwriting vehicles trade within the Lloyd's insurance market as corporate members of Lloyd's writing GBP21 million of capacity for the 2014 account. The portfolio provides a good spread of classes of business being concentrated in property insurance and reinsurance. For further information please visit www.huwplc.com.

Additional information

Dumasco Limited ("Dumasco") is a limited liability member of Lloyd's which HUW has agreed to acquire from Henry and Marina Dumas; in the year ended 31 December 2013, Dumasco made a profit before tax of GBP0.28 million on gross premiums written of GBP1.3 million. Dumasco's expected net asset value at completion is approximately GBP3.2 million including an estimated market value of underwriting capacity of GBP0.5 million.

Set out below is Dumasco's 2011 closed year of account result and 2012 and 2013 open years of account forecasts:

 
 YOA      Dumasco      Current forecast of syndicate 
          syndicate               profit* 
          capacity            (31 March 2014) 
          (GBP'000) 
------  -----------  --------------------------------- 
                       Mid point   Mid point    Range 
                       (GBP'000)      (%)        (%) 
------  -----------  ------------  ---------  -------- 
 2011      1,436          94         6.58%       N/A 
------  -----------  ------------  ---------  -------- 
                                               3.23 - 
 2012      1,469          91         6.20%      9.16% 
------  -----------  ------------  ---------  -------- 
                                               2.20 - 
 2013      1,519          94         6.17%      10.15% 
------  -----------  ------------  ---------  --------

Source: Syndicate data and HUW analysis

* For 2011 this is the YOA result

Set out below are details of Dumasco's syndicate participations for the 2011 to 2014 years of account:

 
       YOA          2011                 2012                  2013                  2014 
----------  -------------------  -------------------  ---------------------  ------------------- 
 Syndicate   (GBP'000)     (%)*   (GBP'000)     (%)*   (GBP'000)       (%)*   (GBP'000)     (%)* 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ---------  ----------  ------- 
 218               258    18.0%         232    15.8%         232   15.3%            232    15.7% 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ------  -------------  ------- 
 510               569    39.6%         622    42.4%         622   41.0%            622    42.2% 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ------  -------------  ------- 
 2791              571    39.8%         571    38.9%         571   37.6%            503    34.1% 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ------  -------------  ------- 
 6103               38     2.6%          43     2.9%          43    2.8%             32     2.2% 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ------  -------------  ------- 
 6104                -        -           -        -          50    3.3%             50     3.4% 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ------  -------------  ------- 
 6105                -        -           -        -           -       -             36     2.4% 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ------  -------------  ------- 
 
 Total           1,436   100.0%       1,469   100.0%       1,519     100.0%       1,476   100.0% 
----------  ----------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------  ---------  ----------  -------

* Percentage of total syndicate portfolio

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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