Benfield Group Ltd. (BFD.L, BFLDF.PK) reported Thursday that pre-tax profit for the six-months to 30 June declined 5% to GBP 87.653 million from GBP 92.288 million last year. Profit for the period decreased to GBP 57.851 million from GBP 62.367 million in 2007.
Profit attributable to equity holders of company declined to GBP 57.659 million from GBP 62.281 million last year. Earnings per 1p common share were 25.29 pence, down from 25.80 pence last year, while on an adjusted basis decreased year-over-year to 25.8 pence.
Six-month revenue decreased 4% to GBP 232.952 million from GBP 242.680 million, including revenue from commission and fees that declined to GBP 227.941 million from GBP 236.206 million.
The company said that as expected adverse trends in reinsurance and insurance pricing continued in the first half of the year. Despite this, international division demonstrated continued growth in difficult markets with strong performance from European, Global Facultative and ReMetrics teams. Also, US Division continuing to lead the market in capital markets catastrophe solutions through Benfield Advisory.
Benfield's Board has declared an interim dividend of 4 pence, in line with last year, which will be paid on 26 September to shareholders on register on 29 August.
Looking ahead, the strong performance from International and BCR against a background of difficult market conditions, combined with a focus on cost control, enables us to reaffirm our expectation that reported trading profit for the full year will be marginally below that achieved in 2007.
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