Norwegian insurer Protector warns of loss after Grenfell ruling, shares slide

Protector Forsikring ASA

10/07/2019 10:18

OSLO, July 10 (Reuters) - Shares in Protector Forsikring
 PROTCT.OL  fell 12% on Wednesday after the Norwegian insurer
warned about a second-quarter loss, partly because it had lost
an arbitration case related to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in
London.
    It said the quarterly loss would be about 128 million
Norwegian crowns ($14.8 million) compared to 97.4 million crown
profit in the same period a year ago, adding its performance
would have been weak even without the arbitration loss.
    The loss associated with the arbitration case was about 6.9
million pounds ($8.6 million). 
    The company said its "price and profitability measures
implemented have come too late and are not sufficient."
    Protector was the insurance provider for the Royal Borough
of Kensington and Chelsea, which owned the Grenfell Tower in
which 72 people were killed when a fire tore through the
building in 2017.
    An arbitration panel ruled last week against Protector in
the firm's dispute with property reinsurer Munich Re  MUVGn.DE 
over claims related to the fire. Protector said it was surprised
by the ruling and had not booked any reserves for the decision.
    The combined ratio that measures losses and expenses in
relation to premiums earned would be about 107% for the second
quarter, the company said. A figure above 100% indicates a firm
is paying out more money in claims than it earns from premiums.
    It said the combined ratio for the full-year 2019 would rise
but the figure would be published with second-quarter results,
which are due out on July 12.
    It previously guided for a 2019 combined ratio of about 96%.
    
    ($1 = 8.6454 Norwegian crowns)
    ($1 = 0.8010 pounds)

 (Reporting by Victoria Klesty
Editing by Edmund Blair)
 ((victoria.klesty@thomsonreuters.com; +47 2331 6592; Reuters
Messaging: victoria.klesty.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))