Roger Baird, Press Association City Staff
Insurance group RSA said its turnaround remained on track despite the "distraction" of an earlier collapsed takeover attempt by Swiss rival Zurich.
The owner of More Than posted underlying net written premiums up 1% to £4.4 billion, boosted by rises in its UK and Scandinavian businesses offsetting falls at its Ireland and Canadian operations.
The group hired former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester in February 2014 to revive its fortunes after it was rocked by a series of profit warnings.
He pledged to make the business a leaner operation, and the September announcement of the sale of its Latin American unit for £403 million brings the total disposals under his reign to £1.2 billion.
Also in September, Zurich's £5.6 billion takeover attempt collapsed after a slump at the Swiss group's general insurance business prompted it to abandon the deal.
Mr Hester said: "Zurich's unsolicited approach to RSA was a distraction in third quarter. It is pleasing that our business continued to perform well despite that."
He added: "We are very pleased with progress to date in RSA's turnaround. If we can keep the improvements coming, the future is bright for RSA as a high-quality, high-performing leader in its markets."
The group said the insurance business remains unchanged, with price competition a sharp feature in the market.
In the UK, personal insurance premiums fell 4% to £842 million in the first nine months of the year, as RSA's More Than brand continued to face stiff competition on prices in car and home cover.
But its UK commercial business posted a 5% rise in net written premiums to almost £1.1 billion over the same nine-month period.
The group said weather-related losses to date totalled £92 million in the third quarter, which represents 1.7% of earned net premiums, and includes an estimated £16 million hit from the Chile earthquake in September.
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