Recent floods in the UK have taken a toll on the bottom line of Royal & SunAlliance, but the London-based group says it has achieved a strong first-half (interim) result given the “challenging” conditions.

Profit for the six months to June 30 was down less than 1% to £237 million ($565 million).

With the floods set to cost the insurer £120 million ($286 million) and a combined ratio that has been pushed out to 96% as a result, CEO Andrew Haste says maintaining the profit shows that the company has a strong future.

“The results have been delivered against the backdrop of the UK floods in June, as well as adverse weather and increased large losses across the group. (They) clearly demonstrate the benefit of management actions and the strong and diversified portfolio.”