BRIT Insurance Trading Update - 23.11.07

Brit Insurance Holdings PLC ("Brit Insurance" or "the Group"), the UK-domiciled
international general insurance and reinsurance group, yesterday issued a trading update. The full Press Release is attached.


"Business written

Gross premiums written by the Group in respect of ongoing business for the 9
months to 30 September 2007 totalled £1,020.1m (30 September 2006:  £978.3m), an increase of 4.3%. Premium growth, when adjusted for exchange rate movements, (the "underlying increase"), was 9.2%.

As anticipated, the majority of our premium growth has come from Brit Global
Markets which had an underlying increase of 14.7% to £565.9m (30 September 2006:   £522.2m). Business written by the Reinsurance Underwriting Centre totalled
£226.1m (30 September 2006:  £236.8m), an underlying increase of 1.7%.  Premiums written by Brit UK were £228.1m (30 September 2006:  £219.3m), an underlying increase of 4.5% reflecting the investment we have made in our regional network.


Ratings

Rates achieved by Brit Global Markets and Brit Reinsurance have been in line
with our expectation, with modest decreases in most areas, albeit from a good
margin environment.  Brit UK rates have stabilised in property and motor, giving
weight to our view that the market should start to improve in the second half of
2008.

Premium Rating Index (Base year: 2000)
	30 Sept 2007	30 June 2007	31 Dec 2006	31 Dec 2005	31 Dec 2004	31 Dec 2003	31 Dec 2002	31 Dec 2001	31 Dec 2000
Brit Global Markets Accident & Health	170	172	164	152	149	142	131	100	N/A
Aerospace	212	213	254	268	260	237	202	158	100
Financial & Professional	271	274	276	280	280	265	207	122	100
Marine	181	182	182	171	160	156	144	112	100
Property	170	170	171	151	152	155	150	112	100
Brit Reinsurance Property Treaty	207	212	198	155	153	154	149	110	100
Treaty Casualty	231	234	234	228	230	215	182	115	100
Marine XL	288	289	286	193	183	179	171	115	100
Aviation XL	125	125	125	128	139	159	167	100	100
Brit UK Employers' / Public Liability	217	219	237	257	284	286	200	100	N/A
Professional Indemnity / D&O	110	107	118	130	132	130	100	N/A	N/A
Motor	101	101	104	111	122	120	115	108	100
Property	123	123	125	130	131	132	123	104	100

These indices are to be read with caution.  They are based on underwriters'
estimates of rate changes, including adjustments to terms and conditions, and
relate to renewal business only, since this represents the business on which we
have the best year-on-year data.


Claims

Compared with the very benign levels of 2006, claims frequency and severity have
returned to more normalised levels across most classes with claims from events
such as the Australian floods, European Windstorm Kyrill, the UK floods,
sub-prime, the California wildfires and a number of aviation and space losses.
Brit Insurance's net claims arising from the July floods is £6.6m. Following a
reduction in our claims for the June floods to £9.5m from £10.6m, the combined
net claims for both the June and July floods is £16.1m.



Outlook

Dane Douetil, Brit Insurance CEO said:"The third quarter has built on the solid performance of the first half year and was particularly pleasing given the weakness of the dollar.  Set against a more volatile financial environment, our investment return for the quarter was strong. While rates in Brit Global Markets and Brit Reinsurance remain at satisfactory levels, they are under continued downward pressure from the high levels of the last two years. The UK market remains challenging but rates are generally stabilising and we expect to see an improvement in the next 12 months. Given normal loss activity for the rest of the year, we are confident that our full year result will be in line with market expectations."