Blog: Five big percentages to emerge from the latest results season

1. RSA's 317% group pre-tax profit leap

RSA group CEO Stephen Hester was proud to report the company's turnaround programme was coming to fruition with pre-tax profit jumping 317% to £288m in the first half of the year.

2. RSA's 113.6% UK motor COR

Not all was rosy on the percentage-front at RSA, however, as UK and Western Europe CEO Steve Lewis admitted the division's personal lines motor combined ratio needed to improve after it deteriorated to 113.6% from 102.7% in H1 2014. Lewis told Post he was "clearly focused" on improving the figure.

3. Zurich's 50% UK GI profit drop

Zurich UK general insurance CEO Vibhu Sharma also had some explaining to do when his division reported a 50% profit decline. Sharma said the company was a victim of "a perfect storm of today's tougher market conditions combined with a great than average number of significant large losses".

4. DLG's 161% underwriting profit jump

Direct Line Group noted a significant 161% increase in its underwriting profit as well as a 143.6% increase in post-tax profit. CEO Paul Geddes praised the insurer's "strong" headline figures and attributed the result partly to favourable weather and partly to reserve releases.

5. Aspen's 62% net income decline

Aspen said mid-sized losses and a reduction in exposure in energy-related lines of business had a negative effect on its second quarter insurance results. The company's net income after tax tumbled from $130.8m (£84.2m) in Q2 2014 to $49m this year, signifying a 62% decrease.