Skuld has reported a half-year result of USD 47 million for 2026/27, up from USD 36 million a year earlier, with S&P reconfirming its A rating - but chief executive Ståle Hansen paired the announcement with a specific warning that the hull insurance market remains soft even as the mutual's own performance stays strong.
The technical result reached USD 11 million on a combined ratio of 96%, with the investment portfolio adding a 2.5% return despite what Skuld called a volatile first half shaped by geopolitical developments, inflation concerns and higher government borrowing. The club reported one new pool claim during the period.
Hansen said the hull market remains soft as the industry enters the more weather-exposed second half of the year, adding that continued underwriting discipline and financial strength would be needed as conditions evolve.
Skuld's half-year performance fits a pattern of generally solid results being reported across the International Group of P&I Clubs, though the reporting periods are not directly comparable - most IG clubs run February-to-February financial years rather than the calendar-based half-year period Skuld uses, meaning some results below cover full policy years while others cover the equivalent half-year window.
The Swedish Club reported a half-year underwriting result of USD 3.6 million for the same 2026/27 period, up from USD 2.6 million in the first half of 2025, with a combined ratio of 96% - identical to Skuld's. The Swedish Club's result was described as reflecting continued sound technical performance in an operating environment shaped by ongoing geopolitical volatility and claims pressure.
Britannia Group's full 2025/26 policy year result, published in July, showed a profit of USD 60.9 million driven by a sharp reduction in large claims and strong investment returns of USD 88.8 million. Its combined ratio improved materially to 111.3% from 137.7% the previous year, with retained claims falling 25% year on year and pool claims also lower. Britannia chair Egied Verbeeck described 2025/26 as significantly improved, noting the prior year had been weighed down by a series of one-off events. Free reserves stand at USD 572.2 million, with capital returned to members at the February 2025 and February 2026 renewals.
The UK Club recorded a USD 60 million surplus for 2025/26 at a combined ratio of 105%, while the London P&I Club achieved 14.5% mutual tonnage growth at its 2026 renewal and hit its targeted premium increase on renewing business.
Across the IG, the market's full-year 2024/25 results had shown the structural dynamic that several clubs are still managing through: a collective underwriting deficit of USD 353 million was offset by an average investment return of approximately 5%, producing an overall positive result of USD 313 million and pushing free reserves to a record USD 5.94 billion. That reliance on investment returns to compensate for underwriting deficits is the key structural question for the sector heading into 2027.
P&I is not the complete marine insurance picture, and Hansen's specific caution about hull is the more actionable element of Skuld's half-year update for brokers working that line.
The P&I club results above reflect mutual underwriting performance on liability cover. Hull and machinery is a separate, commercial market operating under different dynamics. As the WTW Insurance Marketplace Realities 2026 survey noted, the hull market has shifted into a favourable environment for insureds following a prolonged period of hardening since 2018, driven by new market entrants and established carriers pursuing aggressive growth - a combination generating competitive pricing, broader coverage terms and an influx of motivated capacity from syndicates, MGAs and US carriers.
Hansen's warning that the hull market "remains soft" entering the storm-exposed second half of the year is, in that context, simultaneously an accurate market description and a signals-based caution rather than a crisis flag. Softening hull rates mean better terms for shipowners buying cover, but raise questions about technical adequacy for underwriters who have been competing aggressively on price.
P&I renewal conversations can lean on club-specific financial strength indicators - a reconfirmed S&P rating, a 96% combined ratio, and a half-year result well ahead of prior year - to support the case that a particular club's premium adequacy is well-managed. Hull placements operate in a materially softer environment where technical adequacy is a more open question, particularly heading into Atlantic storm season, and where competitive pricing pressure from new entrants is likely to persist through the 2026/27 underwriting year regardless of how the second half of 2026 unfolds for claims.
