Pretax profit for the six months ended June 30, fell to 161.4 million pounds from 184.4 million pounds a year earlier.

The insurer reported catastrophe losses of 32.2 million pounds compared to last year when no catastrophe losses were recorded.

Gross written premium rose 1.3 percent to 1.84 billion pounds.

Shares in the FTSE-250 company, Lloyd's of London's largest listed British underwriter, closed at 391.3 pence on Friday on the London Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Roshni Menon and Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)