Specialty insurer Hiscox has posted strong results for last year and hopes to maintain the momentum as pricing conditions improve.

Net profit more than tripled to almost $US128 million ($180.2 million), as did pre-tax earnings to $US137.4 million ($193.5 million).

The UK-listed insurer’s gross written premium gained 15% to $US3.78 billion ($5.3 billion) and the combined operating ratio improved to 94.9% from 99.9%.

Net earned premium grew slightly to $US2.57 billion ($3.6 billion) from $US2.42 billion ($3.4 billion), held back by an “active second half” with large claims and natural catastrophes, including December’s Sydney hailstorm.

“Our aggregate protection products, risk excess covers and some specialty areas, all areas of focus since 2012, meant the higher frequency of mid-sized catastrophes and individual large losses hit us harder than 2017’s fewer but larger catastrophes,” CEO Bronek Masojada said.

“Our ambition for [the year] is to continue to grow premiums, albeit at a slightly slower pace. We are hopeful that positive pricing momentum and portfolio optimisation will lead to improved underwriting profits, with higher interest rates driving better investment returns.”

The Hiscox Re & ILS arm achieved rate improvements of 2% across all lines at the January renewals. It hopes for further hardening in April for the Japanese renewals, and in June and July for the US markets.