sydneyqbe insurance group ltd is taking a measured approach to gross written premium growth as it makes a small increase to its gwp guidance qbe on thursday reported a net profit of us151 million for the six months through june down 66 compared with the same period the previous year while its gross written premium on a constant currency basis rose by 18 from the previous corresponding period to us1161 billion the insurer upgraded its outlook for gwp growth on a constant currency basis for fiscal year 2022 to around 10 which analysts from ubs viewed as only a slight increase adding that it looked to be conservative qbe chief executive andrew horton said the gwp outlook the insurer provided on thursday avoided putting too much pressure on growth growing is relatively new to the company he told the wall street journal in qbes outlook for fiscal year 2022 the insurer noted that its strategy remained focussed on building a platform with more consistent performance greater resilience and lower volatility it guided for a consistent lowtomid 90 combined operating ratioa measure of underwriting profitability comparing premiums with losses and expensesthrough the cycle mr horton said that gwp growth for the first half was helped partly by its crop business which showed growth of 40 but he said this wouldnt be repeated in the second half excluding its crop business qbes gwp increased by 13 so the first half is definitely going to be higher than the second half he said at the same time mr horton said that qbe may look to write fewer premiums in the second half of the fiscal year leading to a more marginal gwp outlook for fiscal year 2022 we believe insurance rates are moderating in certain lines particularly in financial lines therefore well likely take more evasive action on writing less premiums than we had originally planned in the second half he said directors and officers insurance is one line where qbe planned to write less business this year this is in contrast with other insurers that withdrew from the line due to the lack of profitability over the past five years returning to it claims in the covid world started falling back…and in typical fashion when people start seeing profit in various books people start piling in again mr horton said my view is its too early really because it takes quite a while for claims to settle weve definitely started taking evasive action on our do book by starting to shrink it because we think this is too soon qbes current best estimate for the net impact of the russiaukraine conflict remains us75 million we havent seen many claims yet obviously its a very complex situation while the event is still happening were pretty comfortable with how weve estimated our gross claims and then how weve estimated our reinsurance recoveries which would work to give us the net claims of us75 million he said