Five year summary

	2012 £000	2011 £000	2010 £000	2009 £000	2008† £000
Results
Gross premiums written	1,565,819	1,449,219	1,432,674	1,435,401	1,147,364
Net premiums written	1,268,140	1,174,011	1,131,627	1,157,023	898,394
Net premiums earned	1,198,621	1,145,007	1,131,158	1,098,102	928,095
Profit before tax	217,124	17,271	211,366	320,618	105,180
Profit for the year after tax	207,772	21,272	178,800	280,497	70,808
Assets employed
Intangible assets	69,617	67,552	64,108	50,413	48,557
Financial assets carried at fair value	2,406,269	2,368,636	2,459,107	2,413,300	2,081,772
Cash and cash equivalents	657,662	516,547	336,017	259,647	440,622
Insurance liabilities and reinsurance assets	(2,056,223)	(2,007,745)	(1,817,102)	(1,702,225)	(1,773,622)
Other net assets	301,059	310,909	223,984	100,151	153,697
Net assets	1,378,384	1,255,899	1,266,114	1,121,286	951,026
Net asset value per share (p)	349.7	323.5	332.7	299.2	258.1
Key statistics
Basic earnings per share (p)	53.1	5.5	47.2	75.2	18.8
Diluted earnings per share (p)	50.9	5.3	45.4	72.3	18.1
Combined ratio (%)	85.5	99.5	89.3	86.0	75.3
Return on equity (%)	16.9	1.7	16.5	30.1	9.2

Dividends per share (p)	18,00	17.0	16.5	15.00	12.75

Share price – high* (p)	489.40	424.70	381.40	362.00	361.00
Share price – low* (p)	369.30	340.50	317.00	277.00	194.75

*Closing mid market prices.
†As a result of a change in presentation, 2008 and later years included acquisition costs for the purchase of reinsurance contracts within expenses for the acquisition of insurance contracts. Earlier years include these costs within ‘outward reinsurance premiums’.

Annual Report 2012

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