RSA Insurance posted a jump in full-year profit on Thursday and bumped up its dividend as a strong performance in Scandinavia, Canada, the Middle East and Ireland helped to offset a poor showing in the UK.
In its preliminary results for 2017, the insurer said underlying pre-tax profits were up 12% to £620m, with group operating profit up 1% to £663m. Group underwriting profit increased 4% to a record £394m.

Meanwhile, the combined operating ratio improved to 94% from 94.2% in 2016. A ratio below 100 indicates that the company is making an underwriting profit, while a ratio above means it is paying out more money in claims than it is receiving in premiums.

The group said it achieved "excellent" underwriting results across many of its businesses. The combined ratio in Scandinavia came in at 82.9%, while Canada saw a ratio of 93.9%, the Middle East's was 87.7% and Ireland's ratio was 97%.

Underlying earnings per share rose 10% to 43.5p and RSA declared a final dividend of 13p per share, bringing total dividends for the year to 19.6p, up 23%.

Chief executive Stephen Hester said: "In a tough period for insurance markets, we are delighted to produce another year of growing profits, dividends and return on equity for shareholders. Higher premium income also highlights the positive customer response to what we are offering.

"RSA's overseas divisions achieved excellent results in 2017, partly offset by poor underwriting figures in our UK/ London market business as flagged earlier in the year. The group's performance ambitions remain high and we target further improvement in 2018 and thereafter."

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