The Club is rated 'A with stable outlook' by S&P yet again
Norwegian Hull Club’s ‘A rating with stable outlook’ has once again been confirmed by the corporate credit ratings provider S&P Global Ratings in its latest report, issued June 29, 2023.
S&P highlights The Club’s key strengths as being ‘recent exceptional underwriting performance with improved conditions in the marine market’, its ‘extremely strong capital adequacy’, while also noting its ‘strong reputation in the hull and loss-of-hire markets’.
'Exceptionally strong'
In its summary, S&P states that Norwegian Hull Club ‘will continue to record exceptionally strong underwriting results with combined ratios below 90% over 2023-2025’, while acknowledging its ‘exceptionally strong underwriting results in the last two financial years, with combined ratios of 84% in 2022 and 85.5% in 2021’.
The report also draws attention to The Club’s ‘expertise in hull and loss-of-hire insurance’, and that S&P expects that ‘Norwegian Hull Club will retain its reputation as a premium marine insurer that enjoys a high level of loyalty from its members’.
'Market leader'
Regarding the company’s business risk profile, S&P says: “We expect Norwegian Hull Club to maintain its position as market leader in loss-of-hire insurance, and to remain a significant provider of marine energy sector insurance and of hull and machinery insurance.” It adds: “The Club’s retention rate remained above 90% despite unfavourable market conditions in the shipping industry. We expect The Club’s membership to remain loyal due to its strong service proposition.”
The credit rating’s highlights conclude: “The Club has significant excess of capital at our ‘AAA’ benchmark… We expect that while The Club will continue to grow and return premium to members, its strong underwriting results and improved investment returns will allow it to maintain a significant excess of capital above the ‘AAA’ level.”
'Highly appreciated'
CEO Hans Christian Seim said of the report: “The Club’s service concept, in-house expertise and commitment to knowledge sharing have, once more, proven to be highly appreciated by our clients. This is exemplified through a retention rate that we can be rightly proud of.
"To have S&P highlight this is truly important to us, as we are resolutely committed to the long-term. That is why we continue to strengthen our offerings in traditional marine insurance segments, while also establishing a solid foundation in the likes of offshore renewables upon which we are already building a solid, expanding portfolio. All the while, our Mission to secure lives, health, the environment, and property for the protection of people and the planet remains squarely in focus.”
You can read the report from S&P Global Ratings here