Theresult lifts the free reserve of the Gard protection and indemnity club to$926m and suggests that its shipowner members can look forward to anotherpremium discount.
Profitabilitywas almost twice last year’s level and mainly based on a strong investment returnof 6.1%.
Theoverall combined ratio of the Gard group rose to 101%, just the wrong side of breakeven,so there was an underwriting loss.
Gardchief executive, Claes Isacson, said insurance operations performed well despitesome large losses in the first quarter of the year and highly competitivemarkets.
Arendal,
