Beazley Announces Interim Results

Beazley Group plc results for the six months ended 30 June 2008

London, 25 July 2008

• Profit before tax of £45.0m (2007: £60.2m)

• Profit before tax and foreign exchange on non-monetary items £46.0m (2007: £60.6m)

• Investment performance impacted by poor returns in credit and equity markets; annualised return 2008 of 1.7% (2007: 5.2%)

• Return on equity of 16.8% (2007: 24.8%)

• Interim dividend of 2.2p per share (2007: 2.0p)

• Gross written premiums decreased 6% to £407.3m (2007: £434.1m)

• Continued growth in the US - US$139.1m of business written (2007: US$77.9m)

Strong financial position

• Investment and cash balances increased 20% to £1,569.7m (2007: £1,310.9m)

• Prior year reserve releases of £23.4m (2007: £25.2m)

	6 months ended 30 June 2008	6 months ended 30 June 2007	% increase/(decrease)
Gross written premiums (£m)	407.3	434.1	(6)
Net written premiums (£m)	292.3	325.6	(10)
Net earned premiums (£m)	312.2	290.4	8
Profit before tax (£m)	45.0	60.2	(25)
Comprises:
Profit before tax and foreign exchange adjustments on non monetary items (£m)	46.0	60.6	(24)
Foreign exchange on non-monetary items (£m)	(1.0)	(0.4)	N/A

Earnings per share	9.1p	11.6p	(22)
Dividend per share - interim	2.2p	2.0p	10
Net assets per share	111.3p	97.6p	14

Beazley Group Chief Executive Andrew Beazley said:

“The first half of 2008 has been a challenging period for underwriters and investment managers. Despite this, we have still achieved a highly creditable result that is consistent with our track record of unbroken profitability. In markets like this, our steady, long term investments in underwriting talent make a major difference to performance.”

“Our US venture continues to thrive and is giving us opportunities to write attractive new business to complement our core Lloyd’s accounts. The US is now well established and continues to grow.”

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