Hiscox Ltd Ord New (HCXLF) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning everyone. It's great to be here to present another set of strong results. Hiscox is built to deliver through the cycle. Our diverse business portfolio and effective execution of our strategy are delivering growth at attractive returns in an increasingly complex trading environment. We've grown premiums by 10%, our insurance service result is up 30% and we've delivered an attractive combined ratio of 90%. Our underlying investment income continues to benefit from strong yields and a growing asset base. And we've achieved a return on tangible equity of 20%, materially above our mid-teens through the cycle target. This drives strong capital generation and supports a 17% increase in the interim dividend. and over the last 12 months we have returned $460 million of capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks while growing the book value by 9%. Now looking at the performance of our businesses in more detail, We have built a multi-year track record of delivering growth and strong profitability. In retail, we have now achieved three consecutive years of accelerating growth and margin expansion. Since 2023, our growth rate has doubled, driven mostly by policy count and reflecting the quality and breadth of our customer propositions. and today we're upgrading our 2026 retail growth guidance from 8 to 9% for the full year, a material step up from the 6% we achieved in 2025. Retail margin continues to expand as we gradually and consistently improve within our 89 to 94% target range as guided at the CMD last year. In London market, the diversification in our portfolio has again resulted in the business delivering a solid combined ratio, after absorbing the impact from the Middle East conflict. This is consistent with our long track record of disciplined un...