Can things get any better for No 5 insurer QBE Insurance? (Although if you want to add its foreign earnings, you can call QBE No 1 by a billion dollars or so.) Only months after announcing two acquisitions the group has recorded a 33% increase in net profit to $320 million for the first half.

CEO Frank O’Halloran – who can count major Australian and Singapore acquisitions among his prizes this year – says the group is confident of achieving its 2004 target of $9.2 billion gross written premium and $6.8 billion net earned premium. That includes the cost of the recent acquisitions and the fall in the Australian dollar in the past three months.

Expected insurance profit for the remainder of 2004 and for 2005 has been upgraded from 10-11% to 12-13% of net earned premium.

Gross insurance profit for the six months to June 30 increased 58% to $409 million, and all of the group’s segments produced improved underwriting profit and insurance margins compared with the previous corresponding period.

QBE, which does more than 75% of its business overseas, is exposed in a minor way to the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Charley in Florida. Mr O’Halloran says it is a reminder that the benign claims situation in Australia, stemming from unusually dry weather, is not guaranteed to continue.