Lloyds of London Blames Disaster-Filled 2011 for £516 Million Loss

Insurers Lloyds of London posted a £516 million ($822 million) loss for 2011 Wednesday, citing it was the worst year for natural disaster claims in the firm's 324-year history.

The insurance giant listed the litany of disasters in its annual report, which included claims from flooding in Australia in January, the February earthquake in New Zealand, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March and the floods in Thailand.

The results compared with a profit of £2.195 billion in 2010.

In a statement on its website, Chief Executive Richard Ward said: Make no mistake, 2011 was a difficult year for the insurance industry.

Given the scale of the claims, a loss is unsurprising but it reflects what we're here to do -- help communities and businesses rebuild after disaster.

It is also reassuring that, despite this loss, our financial strength has been maintained. It's testament to Lloyd's robust oversight and professionalism in the market today.

The loss included £4.6 billion of catastrophe claims, the largest in the company's history.

Lloyds' previous record loss came after the September 11 attacks in 2001, when the firm posted a pre-tax loss of £3.1 billion.

The company's chairman, John nelson, warned that 2012 is likely to be another challenging year. But he added: Our strong capital position is unchanged and we were able to make a profit in the second half of the year despite the floods in Thailand and continuing low investment returns, John Nelson said.

Lloyds shares are down about 1.15 percent in London trading.