Blenheim Underwriting has reported strong results for Syndicate 5886 in the 2025 calendar year, posting a net combined ratio of 80.9% that comfortably outperforms the wider Lloyd's market.
The syndicate's results showed a 3.8 percentage point year-on-year improvement in combined ratio, translating into a profit of £72.0 million and a 27% increase in total comprehensive income compared to 2024.
On a Lloyd's three-year accounting basis, the closing 2023 year produced a 21% profit to capital providers. Blenheim said the subsequent open years appear profitable at this stage of development, though they remain on risk.
The figures put Syndicate 5886 well ahead of its peers. Lloyd's reported an aggregate combined ratio of 92.5% for the first half of 2025, driven up by the California wildfires, while S&P Global Ratings has forecast a full-year market combined ratio of close to 91%.
The results are all the more notable given the pricing environment. Lloyd's H1 2025 data showed a negative price change of -3.5%, compared with a positive 1.5% shift a year earlier.
Lloyd's chief of markets Rachel Turk, speaking at a Fitch Ratings conference in January, described this as a "softening market" rather than a soft one, cautioning that it "could turn on a knife edge."
S&P Global Ratings expects the Lloyd's combined ratio to worsen further to close to 93% in 2026 as rates continue to ease. No fewer than seven new syndicates are set to launch within Lloyd's this year, with aggregate stamp capacity projected to rise by 4%.
Peter Scales (pictured above), group chairman and CEO of Blenheim Underwriting, said Syndicate 5886 has now delivered three consecutive years of returns.
He attributed the performance to efforts across the team to build and diversify the book, including the recruitment of underwriters suited to what he described as a collaborative, independent trading environment.
The wider White Bear Group has been building out its operations. In January, Blenheim Partnerships launched a specialty trade-focused managing general agent backed by Blenheim Underwriting and Lloyd's syndicates, with line sizes ranging from approximately US$4.5 million to US$26.75 million.
The MGA covers trade disruption insurance, political risk, contract frustration and trade credit.
On the talent front, Blenheim announced in February the appointments of Phil Lawson and Alex Hewlett as class underwriters on its delegated authority team. Both joined from Scor Syndicate 2015.
Separately, Blenheim Partnerships appointed Geoff Pryor-White to lead its newly established cyber unit. Pryor-White has nearly three decades of cyber and technology E&O underwriting experience and previously founded Tarian Underwriting, which was sold to Corvus Insurance in 2022.
Scales said Pryor-White's leadership will support the firm's strategic growth and enhance its ability to attract experienced underwriting talent.
