Year of account
	NOTES	2004 £M	2003 £M	2002 £M	2001 £M	2000 £M	1999 £M	1998 £M
Syndicate allocated capacity		179	160	130	66	66	66	66
Aggregate net premiums		151	155	77	44	26	21	22
Number of underwriting members		3,544	3,761	3,265	1,271	1,280	1,312	1,275
Results for an illustrative share of £10,000		£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Gross premiums		11,184	11,615	7,788	9,840	5,618	4,576	4,756
Gross premiums %	1	111.8%	116.2%	77.9%	98.4%	56.2%	45.8%	47.6%
Net premiums		9,185	9,748	5,882	6,625	3,903	3,171	3,351
Net premiums %	2	91.9%	97.5%	58.8%	66.3%	39.0%	31.7%	33.5%
Premium for the reinsurance to close an earlier year of account		5,284	3,730	3,769	4,464	4,714	5,406	5,646
Net claims	3	3,470	2,321	2,787	2,404	2,923	2,725	2,950
Premium for the reinsurance to close the year of account		6,041	5,443	4,563	7,754	4,869	5,163	5,305
Underwriting profit/(loss)		4,958	5,714	2,301	931	825	689	742
Profit/(loss) on exchange		768	(50)	(43)	97	70	(7)	(1)
Syndicate operating expenses		2,345	2,335	534	663	447	363	297
Balance on technical account		1,845	3,429	1,724	365	448	319	444
Balance on technical account %	4	16.5%	29.5%	22.1%	3.7%	8.0%	7.0%	9.3%
Investment return		502	303	175	349	317	460	509
Profit for closed year of account		2,347	3,732	1,899	714	765	779	953
Illustrative managing agent's profit commission		402	677	341	114	124	128	167
Illustrative personal expenses		336	346	195	173	195	205	220
Profit after illustrative profit commission and illustrative personal expenses	5	1,609	2,709	1,363	427	446	446	566

1. Gross premiums as a percentage of illustrative share.
2. Net premiums as a percentage of illustrative share.
3. Net claims include internal claims settlement expenses.
4. Balance on technical account as a percentage of gross premiums.
5. Illustrative personal expenses, including illustrative profit commission, are based on a calculation of amounts incurred by a Member writing an illustrative share. For this purpose minimum fee charges are ignored.