trading halt- good news or bad?, page-19

My take on the media release is:

1. 2010 results a little disappointing but at least they maintained the dividend at 66 cents

2. Surprised with the $100 million exposure to cyclone yasi. My conclusion with this figure is it must be related to crop insurance payouts as building/motor casualty would be minimal considering qbe's exposure

3. Very excited about balboa purchase and 10 year distribution rights. They expect to maintain a 15-20% insurance margin on this $1.3 billion extra net premium. What I like about it, is they will benefit from the improvement in the US economy and bond yields and have a lot of synergy with their existing US business.

4. Their new reinsurance cover will save $300 million a year in costs.

5. All in all, considering the tough year insurers have had, it is a reasonable outcome.