Martin Reith steps down as CEO of Helios, successor search begins

Helios has revealed that Martin Reith has stepped down from his role as Chief Executive Officer. Michael Wade, currently Non-Executive Chairman, will immediately become Executive Chairman as the search for Reith’s successor begins.

Meanwhile, Nigel Hanbury, currently Executive Deputy Chairman, will become Non-Executive Deputy Chairman.

Michael Wade, Executive Chairman of Helios, commented, “Martin has made a significant contribution to Helios and has been instrumental in developing the Helios spread syndicate portfolio, accelerating the performance of the Company and growing our in-house management team. We wish him the very best for the future.”

In its full year 2023 financial results, Helios achieved a total comprehensive profit of £29.9 million, up from a loss of £0.1 million in 2022, while its capacity portfolio combined ratio improved to 86%.

Helios explained that it has positioned itself to “maximise growth opportunities” by doubling the size of its capacity portfolio over the last two years to £507 million (up 63%), as the market experiences “outstanding financial performance” underpinned by strong pricing and underwriting discipline.

For the full year 2023, Helios’ gross premiums written increased to £308 million, marking an increase of 26% from 2022’s £244 million figure.

Helios has since reiterated its intention to continue to act for third-party capital providers and anticipates this will grow as a proportion into 2025.

The firm’s Board also confirmed that it has explored the potential of establishing a new ‘follow only’ syndicate at Lloyd’s. Still, it has decided not to pursue this concept to focus exclusively on supporting its spread portfolio.

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