Syndicate 33 2005 Capacity

Hiscox PLC
27 September 2004

                            Hiscox plc Announcement
                           Syndicate 33 2005 Capacity

Hiscox plc, the UK's leading specialist insurer, announces an increase in the
proposed capacity of its Lloyd's syndicate for the 2005 year of account from
£725 million to £775 million.

On 18th August 2004, Hiscox announced a proposed capacity of £725 million for
Syndicate 33 in 2005. The decrease from £847 million in 2004 was largely due to
the weakness of the US dollar as approximately 70 per cent of the Syndicate's
business is written in US dollars, and to a lesser extent to a deliberate
reduction of the account due to the rating environment.

Since that announcement, market conditions have changed following the recent
hurricanes which caused an estimated $20 billion loss to the insurance sector
worldwide. Hiscox anticipates that these losses and other recent events in the
global insurance business should have a positive effect on the rating
environment. As a result, Hiscox is increasing its capacity from the amount
previously advised in order to be in a position to take advantage of any market
opportunities that arise.

This revised capacity, 71 per cent owned by Hiscox, is subject to approval by
the Lloyd's Franchise Performance Directorate as part of the Lloyd's business
planning process.

Bronek Masojada, Chief Executive of Hiscox plc, said:

'This slight increase to our forecast capacity gives us the flexibility to
target any opportunities that emerge. Our focus remains on profitable growth
through disciplined underwriting.'

                                    - ends -

For further information:

Hiscox plc
Bronek Masojada             Chief Executive                   020 7448 6012
Stuart Bridges              Finance Director                  020 7448 6013
Fiona Fong                  Director of Communications        020 7448 6447

The Maitland Consultancy
Philip Gawith                                                 020 7379 5151


Notes to editors

1. Hiscox plc is a specialist insurance group listed on the London Stock
Exchange where it has a market capitalisation of circa £500 million. There are
three main underwriting parts of the Group - Syndicate 33 at Lloyd's, UK Retail
and International Retail business. Syndicate 33 underwrites mainly
internationally traded business in the London Market - generally large or
complex business which needs to be shared with other insurers or needs the
international licences of Lloyd's. The UK Retail business offers a wide range of
specialist insurance for professionals and business customers, as well as high
net worth individuals. It has regional offices in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds,
Maidenhead and Colchester. The International Retail business has offices in
Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich and Guernsey. The European offices write
mainly high value household business and some specialist professional indemnity
business. The Guernsey office underwrites kidnap and ransom business and fine
art. For further information, go to www.hiscox.com

2. On 14th September, Hiscox announced its acquisition of a 5 per cent of
its ownership of Syndicate 33 at 6.2p bringing its total ownership for 2005 to
70 per cent. A further 1 per cent was subsequently purchased.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange