29 May 2025

Helios Underwriting PLC

("Helios" or the Company)

Helios Underwriting Announces 2024 Preliminary Results

Significant increase in NAV and dividend with strong two years earnings visibility

Helios the only publicly traded company offering instant access to a diverse portfolio of syndicates at Lloyd's of London, the world's largest insurance market, announces that its audited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2024 will be released on Monday 2^nd June 2025.

The results are being announced later than expected as a consequence of the additional review procedures required for the change in accounting framework.  The key financial highlights are set out below and these set of results will reflect the adoption of the previously announced changes (on 20^th May 2025)  to Helios's accounting framework, which sees the Company report as an investment entity under IFRS rather than as an insurance group under UK GAAP. 

Key financial highlights

·    11% increase in net asset value (NAV) to £2.43 per share (2023: £2.19*)

·    Dividend and total expected return of capital of 20 pence per share in 2025 (2024: 12p per share)

·    A total cash dividend of 10 pence per share recommended for shareholder approval (2023:6p)

·    Total shareholder return on opening shareholder funds of 16.8% (2023: 34%*)

·    Profit before tax of £20.9m (2023: £36.3m*), driven by material revaluations of investments held at fair value, previously described as capacity value revaluation

·    Retained underwriting profit of £31.4m (2023: £31.6m)

·    Capacity portfolio for 2025 £491m (2024: £519m)

·    Retained capacity for 2025 £332.8m (2024: £403.5m)

·    Sale of £16m of capacity during the year reducing the risk of capacity value fluctuation

·    Reduction in net debt by 11% to 46% (2023: 52%) as part of ongoing deleveraging

·    £40m of underwriting profits expected to be received in 2026 from the 2023 year of account.

*Re-stated financial statements reporting as an investment entity

The introduction of investment entity accounting under IFRS 10 will change the reporting of the financial statements and will result in three significant impacts to the results as part of the movement in the fair value of investments:

·    Capacity revaluations as an input to fair value of investments - amounts included will now appear as part of the pre-tax profits and the 2023 revaluation of £17m will increase the restated 2023 pre-tax profits.

·    Provision for deferred taxation on capacity value - no provision on the increase on capacity value will be required, as unit of account in the Company is the investments in the Helios LLVs rather than the capacity held through those LLVs. No allowance has been made for deferred tax on the unrealised gains from the investments in the Helios LLVs on the basis that the Company will be eligible for Substantial Shareholding Exemption (SSE) should it realise those gains through future disposals. The provision for deferred tax related to capacity revaluation included in 2023 in the UK GAAP reported statements was £20m.

·    Pipeline profits - a proportion of the profits based on the mid-point estimates provided by the syndicate managers in excess of the GAAP recognised profits for the open years of account are to be included.

These changes used in the valuation methodology for investment entity accounting are more in line with the valuation methodology generally used in the Lloyds' market.

Interim Executive Chairman, John Chambers, commented: 

"The excellent 2024 financial performance of Helios reflects the strength of our unique proposition, our continued strategic delivery and favourable underwriting conditions. As a result, we have been able to continue to unlock shareholder returns, highlighted by an 11% increase in NAV 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."

"The period has been 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 our 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."

Capital Markets Event

The Company will be holding a Capital Markets Event on Tuesday 21^st October 2025 for shareholders and other stakeholders to meet the Helios management team, to have an update on six-month results to 30^th June 2025 and to share insights on the strategy for both Helios and the Helios Capacity Portfolio. 

For further information, please contact:

Helios Underwriting plc

John Chambers - Interim Executive Chairman                                               

Arthur Manners - Chief Financial Officer           

44 (0)203 965 6441   

Deutsche Numis (Nomad and Broker)                                      

Giles Rolls / Charles Farquhar          +44 (0)20 7260 1000

FTI Consulting

Ed Berry                                              +44 (0)7703 330 199

Nathan Hambrook-Skinner                +44 (0)7977 817 092

Christian Harte                                    +44 (0)7974 288 763