Five year summary

	2009 £000	2008† £000	2007 £000	2006 £000	2005 £000
Results
Gross premiums written	1,435,401	1,147,364	1,198,949	1,126,164	861,174
Net premiums written	1,157,023	898,394	974,910	975,397	681,236
Net premiums earned	1,098,102	928,095	965,190	888,828	693,299
Profit before tax	320,618	105,180	237,199	201,062	70,221
Profit for the year after tax	280,497	70,808	191,248	163,846	48,630
Assets employed
Intangible assets	50,413	48,557	40,452	33,212	33,099
Financial assets carried at fair value	2,413,300	2,081,772	1,747,827	1,241,910	1,237,778
Cash and cash equivalents	259,647	440,622	302,742	502,871	413,759
Insurance liabilities and reinsurance assets	(1,702,225)	(1,773,622)	(1,433,799)	(1,291,329)	(1,216,624)
Other net assets	100,151	153,697	167,082	195,421	110,001
Net assets	1,121,286	951,026	824,304	682,085	578,013
Net asset value per share (p)	299.2	258.1	209.5	173.2	147.7
Key statistics
Basic earnings per share (p)	75.2	18.8	48.4	41.7	15.6
Diluted earnings per share (p)	72.3	18.1	46.8	40.5	15.1
Combined ratio (%)	86.0	75.3	84.4	89.1	96.0
Return on equity (%)	30.1	9.2	28.8	28.9	12.8

Dividends per share (p)	15.00	12.75	12.00	10.00	7.00

Share price – high* (p)	362.00	361.00	304.50	280.25	234.50
Share price – low* (p)	277.00	194.75	246.75	193.75	152.25

*Closing mid market prices.
†The 2008 comparatives have been updated from those previously reported to reflect the reclassification of acquisition costs on the purchase of reinsurance contracts from ‘outward reinsurance premiums’ to ‘expenses for the acquisition of insurance contracts’ (see note 2.2). Earlier year results have not been adjusted.

Annual Report 2009

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