Cash flow, NAV rise while profit falls for Helios Underwriting
Its net asset value rose 11% to 243p per share, while profit before tax came in at £20.9m, down from £36.3m a year earlier due to the timing of investment revaluations.
Underwriting profit was stable at £31.4m.
Total shareholder return on opening funds reached 16.8%, and the board recommended a full-year dividend of 10p per share, up from 6p, with a total return of capital for 2025 expected to be 20p per share.
The AIM-traded company revised its accounting treatment to reflect its status as an investment entity under IFRS 10, applied retrospectively.
It said the new framework reflected the fair value of its holdings in Lloyd’s syndicates, rather than a consolidated insurance group approach under UK GAAP.
The value of Helios' capacity portfolio declined to £491m for 2025, from £519m a year earlier, with retained capacity falling to £332.8m.
Helios said it sold £16m in capacity during the year to mitigate valuation volatility and continued its deleveraging efforts, cutting net debt to 46% of capital from 52% previously.
The company, which describes itself as the only listed vehicle offering direct exposure to Lloyd’s syndicate underwriting, said it expected to receive £40m in profits in 2026 from the 2023 underwriting year.
“The excellent 2024 financial performance of Helios reflects the strength of our unique proposition, our continued strategic delivery and favourable underwriting conditions,” said interim executive chairman John Chambers.
“As a result, we have been able to continue to unlock shareholder returns, highlighted by an 11% increase in net asset value and a recommended dividend of 10 pence per share.
“Whilst our profit before tax was impacted by an expected rise in costs resulting from unsecured loan notes and stop-loss protection, as well as one-off operating costs incurred in 2024, we're delighted to be reporting our results as an investment entity under IFRS, to better reflect the company's business activities and its true performance.”
Chambers said the period was characterised by an increasingly disciplined approach to the allocation of capital - prioritising established syndicates with profitable track records over new syndicates - while making headway in bringing its operational leverage down to a more sustainable level going forward.
“We believe that the best years of this insurance cycle remain ahead of us from a returns perspective with the work done by the portfolio team in increasing the quality of the syndicate portfolio expected to show through in future years while the Lloyd's three-year accounting structure provides the company with good visibility for the next two years, where we expect to see a similar level of capital returned to shareholders.”
At 1042 BST, shares in Helios Underwriting were down 1.22% at 243p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.