Natural disasters drag insurer Brit down to £160m loss

Lloyd's of London insurer Brit got walloped by California’s wildfires and hurricanes in Japan last year.

The company made a $181 million (£160 million) loss for the year to December 31 after footing natural disaster claims after the fourth-worst year on record for insured losses

Poor investments also contributed to the slide, with losses stacking up from a weak stock market.

The company, co-founded in 1995 by late former Chelsea FC vice-chairman Matthew Harding, warned the market remained “challenging” due to stubbornly low rate increases and financial market jitters. Brit, now owned by billionaire Prem Watsa’s Canadian giant Fairfax, is the largest business trading solely at Lloyd’s, and operates through Syndicates 2987 and 2988.

It paid out $98 million for the California wildfires, $56 million for Hurricane Michael, $27 million for Hurricane Florence and $26 million for Typhoon Jebi, which hit Japan in August.

Gross written premiums rose 8% to $2.2 billion and the combined ratio, a measure of profitability, was 103% from 112%. Below 100% shows profitability

Separately, German insurer Allianz announced a €1.5 billion share buyback plan after it made profits of €11.5 billion for the year ending Decemb