Q3 2026 Trading Statement
Summary by AI BETAClose X
Hiscox Ltd trading statement
Hamilton, Bermuda (3 November 2026) - Hiscox Ltd (LSE:HSX), the international specialist insurer, today issues its trading statement for the first nine months of the year to 30 September 2026 (9M 2026).
Highlights:
· Group insurance contract written premiums (ICWP) grew 9.5%, driven by accelerating momentum in Retail. In big-ticket, innovation and expansion into profitable adjacent specialty classes offset disciplined cycle management.
· Hiscox Retail ICWP increased by 9.1% in constant currency, as growth continued to build in all three markets.
· The investment result was $104.2 million, or a return of 1.2% year-to-date. Rising interest rates resulted in the reinvestment yield increasing to 5.1% and a $192.2 million unrealised fair value loss year-to-date on debt and fixed income holdings which are expected to unwind as the bonds mature.
· The change programme remains on track to deliver $75 million of P&L benefit for the full-year.
· Loss experience was within expectations for the quarter.
· Share buyback announced on 25 February 2026 is 81% complete as at 30 October 2026. 10.3 million shares were repurchased at a cost of $241.9 million.
Aki Hussain, Chief Executive Officer, Hiscox Ltd, commented:
"The pace and quality of our execution continues to drive growth and returns across the Group. In Retail, momentum continues to build, supported by targeted management actions as well as strong new business formation trends. Distribution opportunities won over the last few years are maturing and our new product propositions are gaining traction. We remain on track to deliver 9% constant currency growth for the full-year.
Our two big-ticket businesses are delivering growth while maintaining underwriting discipline in competitive market conditions. We are walking away from underpriced business while maintaining our position where economics are favourable and expanding into new specialty markets where conditions are attractive. Our long-standing broker relationships, deep underwriting expertise, diversified portfolio, disciplined capital allocation and ability to respond quickly to changing conditions remain key competitive strengths.
Our change programme is transforming Hiscox into a more efficient and scalable business, unlocking greater synergies across the Group. We remain focused on returns through dynamic capital allocation and proactive cycle management. With a vast structural opportunity ahead of us in Retail and a proven track record of execution, I am confident we are well positioned to build on our strong momentum."
Hiscox Group
Hiscox Group delivered another strong quarter, with ICWP up 9.5% to $4,437.2 million (9M 2025: $4,052.9 million), as Retail growth accelerated to 9.1% in constant currency. Cycle management in London Market was more than offset by growth initiatives. Hiscox Re deployed additional third-party capital at mid-year renewals, and reduced net exposures to natural catastrophe risks, including retro.
We continued to realise the benefits of our change programme in line with plan and remain on track to deliver a $75 million P&L benefit in 2026, at a cost to achieve of $75 million. As previously guided, Retail remains the largest beneficiary. Most of the benefits are expected to come from Group-wide efficiency and synergy initiatives, including sourcing and location optimisation, operating model redesign and disciplined cost management.
Technology innovation continues across the Group. In the third quarter, we launched a new AI-native portal in US direct, offering much enhanced self-service functionality. We are in the process of rolling out a new submission-to-quote tool in US broker and a new broker portal across Europe as well as developing a new pricing engine in the UK. Once proven locally, these capabilities will be scaled across Retail, unlocking greater synergies, scalability and growth.
To strengthen the leadership of the technology team, Phil Withey has been appointed as the Group Chief Information Officer. Since joining Hiscox in 2025, as the Chief Technology Officer of Hiscox London Market, Phil has driven the expansion of our AI augmented underwriting and overseen the development of agentic AI capabilities.
ICWP for the period:
|
|
9M 2026 |
9M 2025 |
Growth % |
|
|
|
US $m |
US $m |
USD |
CCY |
|
Hiscox Retail |
$2,253.3 |
$2,013.0 |
11.9% |
9.1% |
|
Hiscox London Market |
$1,050.5 |
$955.7 |
9.9% |
9.9% |
|
Hiscox Re |
$1,133.4 |
$1,084.2 |
4.5% |
4.5% |
|
Total |
$4,437.2 |
$4,052.9 |
9.5% |
8.1% |
Hiscox Retail
Hiscox Retail ICWP increased by 9.1% in constant currency to $2,253.3 million (9M 2025: $2,013.0 million), with double-digit constant currency growth in the quarter. Growth accelerated in each of the Retail businesses driven by a wide range of product and distribution initiatives undertaken in recent years. The increase in ICWP was driven by volume, with rates up 1%. This momentum positions us well to deliver 9% constant currency growth for the full-year, in line with our upgraded guidance.
Our Retail digital partnerships and direct (DPD) business, which contributes around a third of our Retail premiums, continues to perform strongly, achieving double-digit growth over the last nine months. This is driven by our consistent investment in marketing and the deployment of new generation technology, as well as external tailwinds from strong new business formation.
ICWP for the period:
|
|
9M 2026 |
9M 2025 |
Growth % |
|||
|
|
£m/€m |
US $m |
£m/€m |
US $m |
USD |
CCY |
|
Hiscox Retail |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hiscox UK |
£603.1 |
$811.1 |
£543.1 |
$714.0 |
13.6% |
11.1% |
|
Hiscox Europe |
€558.6 |
$650.6 |
€520.0 |
$569.0 |
14.3% |
7.4% |
|
Hiscox USA |
|
$791.6 |
|
$730.0 |
8.4% |
8.4% |
|
Hiscox Retail total |
|
$2,253.3 |
|
$2,013.0 |
11.9% |
9.1% |
Hiscox UK
Hiscox UK grew ICWP by 11.1%, on a constant currency basis, to $811.1 million (9M 2025: $714.0 million). The growth is volume-based and driven by continued investment in our brand, successful execution of our sector strategy and deployment of new technology. Momentum is further supported by distribution deals signed since 2023, with several of the more recent wins yet to fully mature.
Our art and private client (APC) business achieved a ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. This has been driven by the successful execution of new distribution deals and investment in technology, with the share of broker new business bound entirely digitally trebling year-on-year. We have also continued to strengthen our customer proposition, for example, by expanding our electric vehicle coverage to include charging equipment.
Despite continued competitive conditions in UK commercial lines, particularly for larger-ticket risks, our focus on nano- and micro-SMEs continues to position us well. Our digital direct business, which targets smaller companies, has grown by double-digits in the first nine months of the year, with an increase in new business of around 40% year-on-year. The direct channel has benefitted from our successful TV campaign which is set to continue into the fourth quarter after driving a further increase in prompted brand awareness.
Hiscox Europe
Hiscox Europe ICWP increased by 7.4% on a constant currency basis to $650.6 million (9M 2025: $569.0 million). The DPD business continued to deliver strong double-digit growth, reflecting the benefits of a dedicated Europe-wide management team that has driven improved execution through greater strategic alignment, faster decision-making and more efficient deployment of resources.
Momentum is also building in the broker business, driven by deeper penetration into customer segments, product development and several distribution deals won recently. Our new cyber resilience product has been well received by brokers and is live in all our European markets. It is now being rolled out to larger SME customers in Germany and to our other Retail businesses in time.
Hiscox USA
Hiscox USA ICWP increased by 8.4% to $791.6 million (9M 2025: $730.0 million), as momentum improved on 2025 across both the DPD and broker channels, continuing the multi-year acceleration.
US DPD ICWP grew by 10.1% to $491.4 million (9M 2025: $446.2 million). In digital direct, we have been delivering double-digit growth consistently over the last four years. To reinforce this trend, we are now advertising on a leading large language model (LLM) as customer search and buy journeys evolve. The ease of access to the Hiscox platform, comprehensive small business cover and continued brand investment are driving increasing volumes through the channel.
In partnerships, production continued to improve with double-digit new business growth across several long-standing partners during the quarter, as enduring and targeted intensive engagement and marketing pay off. In addition, production is maturing from partners added over the last few years, as typically maturity takes between 24 and 36 months from inception. The pipeline of new partnerships remains strong, including some major non-insurance partners.
US broker maintained its positive trajectory, increasing ICWP by 5.8% to $300.2 million (9M 2025: $283.8 million), despite a highly competitive market. This was driven by our expansion into life sciences and technology start-ups and supported by a strong performance in allied healthcare following the addition of new underwriting talent. Optimisation of the auto-renewals process resulted in a broad-based improvement in retention and persistency. In addition, an AI-augmented submission-to-quote solution has improved our speed to quote by around 75% in terrorism and architects and engineers and also contributed to an improved quote-to-bind ratio. We are now rolling out this solution more widely across Retail.
Hiscox London Market
Hiscox London Market ICWP increased by 9.9% to $1,050.5 million (9M 2025: $955.7 million). Underlying growth excluding prior-period premium adjustments slowed to 3.9%. Cycle management actions in areas such as major property, upstream energy, power and renewables reduced growth by nine percentage points as we continued to exercise underwriting discipline and walk away from business where rates are inadequate. These actions were more than offset by new opportunities in adjacent classes entered over recent periods, the build-out of Hiscox Portfolio Solutions (HPS) and selective expansion within the existing portfolio.
Rates reduced by 5% in aggregate over the first nine months of the year, consistent with the half-year position, though are up 59% since 2018. 76% of the portfolio was rated adequate or better at half-year. We continue to see evidence of micro-cycles across our portfolio and within classes of business. This is a phase of the cycle where technology, data and analytics and underwriting pedigree are material differentiators that will underpin superior returns.
In property, our digitally-enabled expansion into US middle market and strong demand for our FloodPlus product outweighed targeted reductions where pricing was more under pressure, most notably in major property.
HPS is performing well, leveraging our multi-decade expertise in portfolio underwriting and building scale through a number of select partners as well as strong new business in structured solutions.
In casualty, new business is being written through adjacencies in technology E&O and financial institutions. Additionally, selective opportunities are being captured in general liability and cyber, while in D&O, US rate declines have moderated and a steady flow of IPO activity has driven new business.
In both crisis management and marine, energy and specialty, we are seeing increased demand arising from the Middle East conflict and expansion into adjacent classes such as downstream energy and credit and political risk. These tailwinds were broadly offset by cycle management actions as competitive pressures persist, most notably in terrorism and energy.
Hiscox Re
Hiscox Re gross ICWP increased by 4.5% to $1,133.4 million (9M 2025: $1,084.2 million), while net ICWP reduced by 7.5% to $486.1 million (9M 2025: $525.6 million), reflecting deliberate cycle management. We have actively reduced net natural catastrophe exposure, particularly in retro, which is now 36% below peak hard-market levels. At the same time, we have continued to support core cedants and selectively written new business in pro-rata property and specialty lines.
Rates declined by 14% over the first nine months, although they remain 55% above 2018 levels, and 83% of the portfolio was rated adequate or better at half-year.
ILS assets under management (AUM) reached a record high of $3.1 billion as at 1 October 2026 (1 July 2026: $2.9 billion), with around two-thirds in private ILS and the remainder in our catastrophe bond funds. Increases in AUM during the quarter were due to strong retained earnings following benign loss experience. We continue to see robust demand from third-party capital providers, most notably from quota share partners, underpinned by confidence in our underwriting strategy, strong portfolio performance, and long-term partnership approach.
Claims
Loss experience in the third quarter was within expectations for the Group. In big-ticket, benign natural catastrophe loss experience in the third quarter more than offset marine losses from the ongoing Middle East conflict. In Retail, loss experience was in line with expectations.
Investments
The investment result for the first nine months of the year was $104.2 million (9M 2025: $350.8 million), or a year-to-date return of 1.2% (9M 2025: 4.2%). The increases in government bond rates resulted in a higher reinvestment yield of 5.1% (HY 2026: 4.4%, FY 2025: 4.0%). Unrealised fair value losses on debt and fixed income holdings of $192.2 million (9M 2025: gains of $63.4 million) are expected to unwind as the bonds mature. As such, the investment result included in adjusted operating profit before tax was $296.4 million (9M 2025: $287.4 million).
Group invested assets as at 30 September 2026 were $9.3 billion (FY 2025: $9.2 billion, 9M 2025: $9.4 billion). Our portfolio remains conservatively positioned, with over 90% of investments held in cash and cash equivalents or investment-grade fixed income assets. The average credit rating of the fixed income assets is 'A' with a duration of 2.0 years.
Capital management
The Group remains well-capitalised on both a regulatory and rating agencies basis, with high levels of liquidity and strong capital generation supporting continued investment in profitable growth and shareholder returns. We have the flexibility to deploy capital into each of our business units where we see attractive opportunities, while maintaining balance sheet strength and financial flexibility, in line with our strategy.
On 1 October, the Group issued £300.0 million 5.875% fixed rate senior unsecured notes due October 2031. The Group also invited holders of its £250.0 million 6.0% fixed rate senior unsecured notes due 2027 to tender their notes for cash. The aggregate principal amount of the notes purchased under this offer was £214.5 million. On 23 October, the Group exercised its option to repurchase the remaining aggregate principal amount at par. The net proceeds from this refinancing activity are available for general corporate purposes and are not eligible capital under the Bermuda solvency regime.
As at 30 October 2026, the Group had repurchased 10.3 million shares for a total consideration of approximately $241.9 million as part of the ongoing $300 million share buyback programme announced on 25 February 2026.
ENDS
A conference call for investors and analysts will be held at 09:30 GMT on Tuesday, 3 November 2026.
Hiscox will announce its full-year 2026 preliminary results on Wednesday, 24 February 2027.
Participant dial-in numbers:
United Kingdom (Local): +44 20 3936 2999
All other locations: +44 808 189 0158
Participant Access Code: 649100
Investors and analysts
Yana O'Sullivan, Director of Investor Relations, London +44 (0)20 3321 5598
Marc Wetherhill, Group Company Secretary, Bermuda +1 441 278 8300
Media
Eleanor Orebi Gann, Chief Communications Officer, London +44 (0)20 7081 4815
Simone Selzer, Brunswick +44 (0)20 7404 5959
Notes to editors
About The Hiscox Group
Hiscox is a global specialty insurer, headquartered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX). With roots dating back to 1901, 2026 marks 125 years of Hiscox and we are proud of our long heritage in insuring specialist and complex risks. Our ambition is to continue to be among the world's most respected specialist insurers, with a diverse portfolio by product and geography. We believe that building balance between catastrophe-exposed business and less volatile local specialty business gives us opportunities for profitable growth throughout the insurance cycle.
The Hiscox Group employs over 3,000 people in 13 countries and has customers worldwide. Through our retail businesses in the USA, UK and Europe, we offer a range of specialist insurance products in commercial and personal lines. Internationally traded, bigger-ticket business and reinsurance is underwritten through Hiscox London Market and Hiscox Re.
Our values define our business, with a focus on people, courage, ownership and integrity. We pride ourselves on being true to our word and our award-winning claims service is testament to that. For more information, visit www.hiscoxgroup.com.
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