LONDON, April 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
2025 Results
Syndicate Research Limited (SRL) stated that the weighted average result1 as a % of Net Premium Earned (NPE), excluding Funds In Syndicate investment returns (FIS2), for those Lloyd's of London (Lloyd's) syndicates trading in 2025 was an above-average 18.8% (2024: 18%) which compares favourably with 5 and 9-year averages of 14.5% and 7.9% respectively. There continues to be a significant performance difference at an individual syndicate level with the best and worst results for 2025 +81% and -18%. Syndicates' combined ratios averaged 85.7%, significantly below the 9-year average of 96.2%, with performance in 2025 benefiting from a relatively small US hurricane impact, which especially enhanced the results of Excess of Loss syndicates.
Lloyd's syndicate results in 2025 also benefited from above-average investment returns which, excluding FIS, averaged 7.7% NPE compared with a 9-year average of 3.5%. Syndicates' predominant fixed income portfolios benefited from still relatively high interest rate yields. The standard deviation of the investment returns was relatively high at 4.6%, illustrating the differences in both investment portfolio mixes and the level of reserve gearing. Investment returns are likely to assume a greater significance in 2026 against a backdrop of (re)insurance price decreases and declining rate adequacy at a market level.
A Two-Tier Market
The chart below demonstrates the significant difference between the top and bottom quartile performing syndicates at Lloyd's. The top quartile's weighted average profit in 2025 is 32.1% compared to 6.5% for the bottom quartile in a year where major losses were close to half the 9-year average of 11.2%. Longer-term, this marked contrast consistently applies, the difference between the top and bottom quartile's performance over 5 years and 9 years being 15.1% pts and 13.8% pts respectively.
Top and Bottom Performers
In 2025, the top performing syndicate was 1176, which, in the absence of a nuclear disaster, has consistently produced large profits. The rest of the top 5 are within SRL's Excess of Loss peer group and benefited from the absence of any major US hurricane losses. The weighted average profit in 2025 for this peer group is 49%, far higher than the average of 18.8%, but results on a return on capital basis will be appreciably lower with their higher risk portfolios leading to higher capital requirements.
The bottom five performers, all loss-making bar one, are relatively recent starters with three trading from 2024, one from 2023 and one Q3 2020.
The latest analysis of syndicate results is available to subscribers at www.syndicateresearch.com.
© 2026, Syndicate Research Limited ("SRL"). All Rights Reserved.
Contacts
Syndicate Research Limited
Dominic Simpson
01449 743944
dominic.simpson@syndicateresearch.com
1 All figures quoted are: 1) for those syndicates trading in 2025; 2) expressed as a % of NPE; 3) exclude RITC/Captive/Syndicate In A Box (SIAB) syndicates, syndicates' first year results; 4) adjusted for impact of Loss Portfolio Transfers bar combined ratio and investment returns.
2 Returns on capital deposited at the syndicate level, "Funds In Syndicate" (FIS).
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0248b285-af0a-4554-8205-e3c591c3e6bc
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/caabb8ac-699e-4952-86b6-f023922a920c
