Lloyd's profits slashed

For the period ending 30 June 2008, Lloyd’s reported pre-tax profit of £949m, down from £1,807m for the same period last year.

However, the market did announce a healthy combined ratio of 89%. Investments returned £346m. A statement issued by Lloyd’s said the results reflected a softening in market conditions and a rise in attritional claims.

Lloyd’s chairman Lord Levene claimed this was a strong performance in “extremely challenging circumstances”.

“The result reported for the first half