The increase in Suncorp’s gross losses from February’s Christchurch earthquake has forced Lloyd’s (re)insurer Amlin into a profit warning.

Amlin’s share price fell more than 16% after it disclosed that its first-half profit, due to be released on August 22, would fall £65 million ($99.4 million) short of expectations.

The underwriter says it has “received a material increase in notified claims from a client relating to the New Zealand Christchurch earthquake”.

As confirmed last week by insuranceNEWS.com.au, Suncorp’s gross losses from the event have leapt from its most recent estimate of $1.6 billion to more than $2 billion.

Amlin says its London retro program has largely absorbed the increased claim but its Bermuda operation has taken net losses of £27 million ($41.3 million) as a result.

It had been forecast to post a loss in the order of £95 million ($145.3 million) for the first half, with analysts now expecting a loss of around £160 million ($244.7 million).

The continuing underperformance of its Amlin Corporate Insurance division (previously Fortis), which it acquired in 2009, will also hit the results.

The company says that division will deliver a result £28 million ($42.8 million) below expectations after “a higher than normal frequency of large claims advices on its property and marine accounts”.

The performance of its Lloyd’s syndicate 2001 has also been below expectations with worse-than-expected claims development in its UK motor and property portfolios.

Amlin has regularly traded at a premium to other Lloyd’s stocks but the profit warning has caused analysts to question Amlin’s status as a star Lloyd’s performer.

Announcing the profit warning, Amlin CEO Charles Philipps says that despite an unprecedented level of catastrophes affecting the non-life insurance sector as a whole in the first quarter, “we are disappointed by these further developments and their impact on our 2011 performance”.