Conduit Holdings today announces the following shareholder update:
1st January renewal season
The highlights of the 1st January 2021 renewal season for Conduit Holdings’ main operating subsidiary Conduit Re are as follows:
- Gross Written Premium of c$160 million being in line with our plan and consisting of a targeted series of January attaching contracts;
- Specific focus on key quota share contracts to deliver a balanced start to our trading;
- Pricing and terms and conditions in line with management expectations;
- Conduit Re benefited from management’s relationships with leading reinsurance broking intermediaries, delivering on the intended mix of business and diversification;
- Brokers and clients welcomed a new, professional reinsurance carrier with a strong and unencumbered balance sheet;
- Formal trading agreements now established with 12 of the world’s leading reinsurance broking firms;
- Conduit Re’s own initial catastrophe reinsurance programme has been successfully placed within plan with further purchases expected during the year as the account develops.
2021 financial year
- Following a strong start, we go into the 2021 financial year with confidence:
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- Senior underwriting team now complete;
- Quota share contracts are expected to represent over half our written premium in 2021, allowing us to access ground-up rate rises in the direct insurance market in our targeted classes;
- Market conditions continue to show improvements across our targeted property, specialty and casualty lines;
- In its IPO prospectus, Conduit Holdings stated that it would be targeting a dividend as early as during the 2021 financial year of approximately 5 to 6 per cent of equity capital, allocated between an interim and final distribution. Conduit Holdings reaffirms its intention to pay a dividend at these levels for the 2021 financial year;
- A further update and the 2020 year-end financial statements will be released in late February 2021. Our 2021 interim results are due for publication in late July 2021.
Further key hires
We are also delighted to announce that Elaine Whelan has joined as Chief Financial Officer and director, a significant hire which broadens and adds a depth of experience to the finance function of Conduit. Elaine replaces Mark Heintzman, who has left the company.
Also, Angus Hampton will be joining as Head of International Casualty, which completes our senior underwriting team as set out in our Prospectus.
Neil Eckert, Executive Chairman, said, “Conduit Re is off to a strong start and we are on track to deliver on the business plan we set out to our IPO investors in December. The hiring of Elaine is obviously a major step for the business and she brings enormous experience from her previous role at Lancashire where she was CFO for nine years. She replaces Mark Heintzman, who has done a very good job in helping take Conduit Re through all of the milestones in its start-up phase. We would like to extend our deepest thanks to Mark for his contribution.”
Trevor Carvey, CEO and Chief Underwriting Officer, said, “We are very pleased with our first renewal season’s trading which has met our expectations and we believe addresses any concerns that may have been raised over our ability to gain traction in the market in a responsible manner. We have been extremely well supported by brokers, clients and our reinsurers and we look forward to continuing to execute on our business plan through the rest of the year. In addition, I’m delighted to welcome Angus Hampton to Conduit Re to lead our International Casualty business which completes our senior underwriting team.”