Lancashire Share Discussion Threads

[speedsgh] 26/2/2016 12:46

Management changes at Cathedral -

Hamblin to leave Cathedral -

Cathedral active underwriter John Hamblin has been named as the latest senior executive to leave the Lancashire Holdings-owned Lloyd's insurer.

In a statement, London-listed Lancashire also confirmed that outgoing Cathedral CEO Peter Scales will not be replaced externally, with group CEO Alex Maloney instead adding the position to his responsibilities from 1 April 2016.

And it said that Cathedral managing director Lawrence Holder will step down from the role next year.

Hamblin's departure comes after rumours that he and other... [SUBSCRIPTION ONLY]

[garycook] 21/2/2016 23:48

As I read it.LRE are keeping the Special Dividend money for a rainy day.If there are no big claims Re 2016,then the year end Special should be good,and a big one.

[speedsgh] 21/2/2016 17:07

The following Q4/Final Results Earnings Call Transcript is well worth a read. In particular section pasted below...

Lancashire Holdings' (LCSHF) CEO Alex Maloney on Q4 2015 Results: Earnings Call Transcript -

I think on the general market comments, I mean it’s incredibly hard to call the bottom of any market. I’m definitely not saying this is the bottom of the market. I suppose my comments are really based around, if you look at people’s results for ‘15 including ours up to a point in a world where on the underwriting side, not much has happened at all. I don’t think they look that sparkling for the industry. And then, if you just see some of the behavior that’s happening now, it does appear that people are really thinking quite cautiously about can they give an another reduction. We are seeing some kind of pushback. And that kind of feels like to me at the end of the late 90s, that’s what happened. People did slow down a bit and people did question things a bit more. That’s not to say the market’s going to go up, but I’m still in the minority that thinks that the second you get some meaningful losses and you overlay them on the industry’s results, there is just not much margin for error. So, people could be in the red quite quickly.

And then if history repeats itself, which it probably will, you’ve got a number of events quite quickly. And then you just look at the investment markets, there’s just so much going on. I think you’d go from -- I think the industry could go from looking vaguely okay to pretty awful quite quickly. And then you just overlay the human element of any market. So, our strategy, as we said earlier, at the moment is all about trying to be there for that market whatever that may be. And I think we all agree it won’t last very long when it comes. And you have to be in the best shape you can to take advantage of it and that at the moment whether it’s investing or underwriting, means capital preservation. You’ve got to have the capital. You’ve got to be ready to go. You’ve got to be in the best shape. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t lose money. We are part of the market. We would surely expect to lose money in a very large event. But if we’re in good shape, we think we could take advantage post-loss.

So, you have to be patient; it’s quite boring. We’ve been saying it for a long period of time. But I’m more interested in trying to make more money in the future than what I am today because it’s incredibly hard trying to do anything today and reaching for any kind of yield now; there’s a huge risk associated with that.

[garycook] 20/2/2016 00:36

Well done.Just need the Dividend stream to continue with a Special later in the year.Had £1.06 in Div,s for 2015.If the Special is paid the same year end, then around 70p for 2016.

[cwa1] 19/2/2016 14:24

Afternoon

Decided to get back in here at a little under £6 to join you lot. Good fortune with it :-)

[speedsgh] 19/2/2016 09:11

Lancashire shares undervalued -

Lancashire (LRE), the specialist insurer that focuses on aviation, marine and terrorism risk, has reported ‘remarkable’ performance despite disappointment from some about the lack of special dividend.

Shore Capital analyst Eamonn Flanagan reiterated his ‘buy’ recommendation but does not have a target price on the shares, which fell 12p to 617p yesterday.

‘Lancashire reported 2015 results which were comfortably ahead of both our and the market’s expectations in respect of profits and net asset value,’ he said. ‘However, there appeared to be some in the market that had expected another special dividend despite pretty clear indications from the group that this was unlikely… the overall performance of Lancashire in 2015 was quite remarkable, in our view.’

Flanagan said the strength of the firm’s underwriting and capital discipline made it a target for ‘corporate predators’ and the shares were undervalued.

‘Trading at c.1.8x our 2016 net tangible asset value of 355p with a c.7.8 % forward yield we view the shares as undervalued,’ he said.

[speedsgh] 18/2/2016 10:15

Yes, correct. No additional special alongside the final maintenance dividend payment of USD 0.10 this year. That makes a full year payment of USD 1.10 (c73p) which is not to be sniffed at. I do like the conservative way in which the company is run + the way that they do not go chasing top line premium growth at any cost. Very happy to continue holding LRE as core constituent of long term income portfolio.

DIVIDEND HISTORY
TOTAL FY 2015 - USD 1.10 (???.??p)
final (Mar 16) - USD 0.10/?.????p
special (Dec 15) - USD 0.95/63.1292p
interim (Sep 15) - USD 0.05/3.2492p
---------------------------------
TOTAL FY 2014 - USD 1.85 (120.02p)
special (Apr 15) - USD 0.50/33.8333p
final (Apr 15) - USD 0.10/6.7666p
special (Dec 14) - USD 1.20/76.4112p
interim (Sep 14) - USD 0.05/3.0135p
---------------------------------
TOTAL FY 2013 - USD 0.80 (48.91p)
special (Apr 14) - USD 0.20/12.1133p
final (Apr 14) - USD 0.10/6.0566p
special (Dec 13) - USD 0.45/27.54p
interim (Sep 13) - USD 0.05/3.20p
---------------------------------
TOTAL FY 2012 - USD 2.10 (134.84p)
special (Apr 13) - USD 1.05/69.05p
final (Apr 13) - USD 0.10/6.58p
special (Dec 12) - USD 0.90/56.05p
interim (Sep 12) - USD 0.05/3.16p
---------------------------------
TOTAL FY 2011 - USD 0.95 (61.06p)
final (Apr 12) - USD 0.10/6.35p
special (Dec 11) - USD 0.80/51.65p
interim (Sep 11) - USD 0.05/3.06p
---------------------------------
TOTAL FY 2010 - USD 1.55 (97.96p)
final (Apr 11) - USD 0.10/6.16p
special (Jan 11) - USD 1.40/88.56p
interim (Sep 10) - USD 0.05/3.24p
---------------------------------
TOTAL FY 2009 - USD 1.40 (85.36p)
final (Apr 10) - USD 0.10/6.66p
special (Jan 10) - USD 1.25/75.62p
interim (Oct 09) - USD 0.05/3.08p

[jrphoenixw2] 18/2/2016 08:02

Right... so, 10 cents but no special.

[ph1ts] 18/2/2016 07:24

Well we got the 10 cents!

[jrphoenixw2] 15/2/2016 10:49

Good point, hmmm, because as I recall the FX rate isn't announced until the Record Date*.

A file-note from last year: 'On 15 April 2015 a final dividend of $0.10 and an additional special dividend of $0.50, a total of $0.60 (£0.4060), per common share was paid.'

*p.s. Another file-note confirms that this was the case for the RD in March-2015

[speedsgh] 15/2/2016 10:29

Or it is perhaps more likely to mean '25 US cents' seeing as LRE dividend is stated in dollars...

special (Dec 15) - USD 0.95/63.1292p
interim (Sep 15) - USD 0.05/3.2492p
---------------------------------
TOTAL FY 2014 - USD 1.85 (120.02p)
special (Apr 15) - USD 0.50/33.8333p
final (Apr 15) - USD 0.10/6.7666p
special (Dec 14) - USD 1.20/76.4112p
interim (Sep 14) - USD 0.05/3.0135p

[jrphoenixw2] 15/2/2016 10:12

I checked the article and it does indeed state '25pc per share'. Presumably a typo and it means 25p? The latter would make some sense as the Special this time last year was 33p.

[speedsgh] 15/2/2016 09:47

Final Results are due on Thurs (18/2)...



Full-year results are under pressure at insurance group Lancashire Holdings. It is estimated that the company will post a 30pc decline in net profit to around $160m when it releases it results for 2015. A combination of lower premium income and higher man-made large losses is expected to weigh on the insurer.

In its fourth quarter, pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at around $37m. However, Lancashire is de-risking its exposure, as it attempts to protect its portfolio with additional reinsurance purchasing. The market also believes the group could pay out a small special dividend of 25pc per share in the first quarter of this year.

[badtime] 20/1/2016 12:03

Bit lower and I might top up

[battyliveson] 12/1/2016 16:21

I would hope the strengthening US$ would help this share as its accounts are denominated in that currency. Rather than a currency headwind, more of a tailwind.

B

[jrphoenixw2] 18/12/2015 23:07

Pidgea. Non gender-specific custodial old-bird of the future.

[shauney2] 18/12/2015 16:52

No nothing from Barclays yet.I think they are still training the pidgeon.

[deanowls] 18/12/2015 16:25

Yes got mine, with TD

[jrphoenixw2] 18/12/2015 16:24

Well if you're with Interactive Brokers that's normal.
They'll blame the custodians, who all sound like they're named after condom or Tampax manufacturers, Asserta, Peoplia, Projecta. Then they'll do everything but tell you who the custodians are, such that one might try to talk to someone speaking sense, and find out where your money is.
Have I received the div today, don't know, but I expect not. That's Interactive Brokers...

[markjdgilbert] 18/12/2015 15:55

Has anyone else not received their dividend today?

[effortless cool] 15/12/2015 12:06

Thanks, badtime. I'm hopefully finally getting the hang of this trading lark.

[badtime] 15/12/2015 11:01

WD effortless

[effortless cool] 15/12/2015 09:59

I have closed my long now. It could well go higher, but there is still potential fall out from the Cathedral mess. Happy on the sidelines for a while.

[carcosa] 15/12/2015 03:27

Thales,

Start with questioning your assumptions.

Carcosa
(Retired/ex-salaried Engineer) ;-)

[thales1] 14/12/2015 16:03

Can anyone help me? LRE share price goes up when sells are much greater than buys?

Am an engineer & deal in facts - my mistake.