Jardine Lloyd Thompson report 25 pc loss in operating profits

Jardine Lloyd Thompson report 25 pc loss in operating profits

	Published : Fri, 29 Jul 2005 00:35 By : Paula Demarzio Print this Story

LONDON: The weakening market conditions have claimed another victim as Britain's largest listed insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group PLC joined the growing list of firms to issue warnings about year-end profits.

Jardine announced on Tuesday that its first half profits had taken a 25 percent hit due to the prevailing market conditions. However, the company was optimistic about the coming year as it had been able to woo away clients form larger firms. The pre-tax profits stood at £48 million in the first six months of the current year ending June 30.

This was significantly less than the £63.9 million reported by the firm at the same period last year. However, the net revenues for the period were up by 3 percent and stood at £250 million in the six months ending June 30. Even the interim dividend remained unchanged at 8.5 pence per share. Jardine blamed the weakening market as well as the weak dollar as the root cause of its financial woes.

Jardine executive chairman Ken Carter confirmed these speculations by saying, "These factors...have continued to contribute to some very challenging trading conditions. We are in a soft insurance market ... It is difficult to see the end of that market."

He warned consumers not to expect any positive upswing in the second half of the year especially if insurance market conditions did not show signs of improvement. But Carter was confident of recovering these losses in the coming year since the firm had managed to win 100 lucrative business accounts and had recently appointed 80 new staff.

This negative outlook hit initially hit Jardine shares, which fell and then recovered.