Randall & Quilter, the specialist non-life firm, said its investment division made a reasonable investment return of 2.5% in markets in 2014 (against 3.3% in 2013) as it reported an overall loss of £799,000 ($1.3m) against a profit of £10.16m last year.
R&Q said the second half of 2014 "favoured a more traditional credit- and government bond-based investment strategy rather than the group's focus on structured and high-yield credit." But it added, "We did nevertheless manage to outperform the majority of traditional fixed-income strategies, which was pleasing."
The firm, which buys "run-off" insurers that no longer write new business, said investment markets have been generally favourable in the year to date for its type of investment portfolio, with its focus on floating rate structured credit, but acknowledged that yields remain low.
Two investment managers have been appointed recently to manage R&Q's US and non-US assets respectively.
"We will continue with low interest rate duration and a structured credit focus though there will be reductions in the ABS [asset backed securities] and CLO [collateralised loan obligations] allocations," the company said.
Channels:SAA/ALM
Companies:Randall & Quilter