Press release: Gard rating ‘A', stable from Standard & Poor's

29 January 2010

"The entire Gard group continues to deliver a very good performance and this rating acknowledges the strength of our competitive position, capitalisation and underwriting performance. 

"We are very comfortable with an ‘A' rating, which is still the highest in the marine mutual market. The underwriting and investment performance for this year has developed well - we posted record post-tax profit of $236 million in November - and expect a very positive final result on February 20th" commented Claes Isacson, CEO.

Notes to Editors
Gard is a shipowner-controlled provider of P&I, marine and energy insurance products, with an annual premium income of USD 796 million and total assets of USD 1.7 billion. Gard employs over 390 people in ten offices around the world.

The P&I division has an entered tonnage in excess of 170 million gt, and gross written premium in the 2008 policy year of USD 460 million.

The marine division has over 6400 entered vessels and a gross written premium income of USD 230 million in 2008.

The energy division's gross written premium for 2008 totalled USD 106 million.

All insurance operating entities within the Gard group; Assuranceforeningen Gard, Gard P&I (Bermuda) Limited and Gard Marine & Energy Limited are rated ‘A' (stable) by Standard & Poor's.

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