Hiscox earnings climbed in 2025, benefitting from growth across all business lines as well as the strengthening of its combined ratio.

The Bermuda-based specialist insurer posted profit before tax of $732.7m for 2025, up 6.9% from $685.4m in 2024.

Its insurance contract written premium (ICWP) rose by 5.9%, reaching $4.9bn, compared to $4.7bn in the prior year.

The group reported an undiscounted combined ratio of 87.8%, which it described as the best in a decade.

Retail ICWP increased by 6.3% in constant currency in line with previous guidance.

The company said it expects this trend to continue, with projections of 8% growth for 2026 and double-digit growth in 2028.

In the UK market, ICWP reached $962.4m, an increase of 8.4% in constant currency from last year’s $864m, reflecting gains in new business.

European operations reported a 6.1% rise in ICWP in constant currency to $710.9m, up from $656.5m, notably due to activity in Germany and France.

The London Market segment recorded ICWP at $1.2bn, on par with the previous year despite a competitive environment.

Hiscox Re saw its net ICWP rise by 7.9% to $538.7m ($499.3m in 2024), driven by pro-rata and specialty lines such as parametric climate resilience and mortgage and surety products.

Total ICWP for Hiscox Re increased by 6% to $1.09bn, backed by net growth and additional third-party capital.

Underwriting profit reached a record insurance service result of $613.9m, compared to $553.5m last year.

The board announced a $300m share buyback programme, bringing total capital returns to shareholders including dividends and buybacks over the past three years to more than $1.1bn.

Regarding its outlook, Hiscox said: “We are on track to deliver double-digit growth in 2028.”

The insurer expects retail ICWP growth to accelerate through 2026, supported by increases in customer numbers, product offerings and new distribution channels.

Hiscox Group CEO Aki Hussain commented: “2025 was a pivotal year for Hiscox as we delivered another strong performance and made excellent progress in executing our growth and change strategy.

“In big-ticket, our specialist expertise and technology capabilities have enabled us to launch new business initiatives, more than offsetting the dynamics of our cycle management actions. We are executing on our strategic agenda, and our commitment to underwriting excellence remains at the core.”

In the past year, the company introduced a Cargo API solution, intended to simplify underwriting for small cargo and stock throughput risks.