(Bloomberg) ? Lloyd?s of London, the 300-year-old insurance market, posted its first loss since 2001 after the worst hurricane season on record battered oil rigs, ships and towns along the US Gulf Coast last year.

The pretax loss was ?103 million ($180 million) in 2005, compared with a profit of ?1.37 billion the year before, Lloyd?s said today, without providing net figures.

?It was a pretty decent performance given the circumstances,? said Richard Gradidge, an analyst at Numis Securities in London. ?The market has proven it?s resilient.?

Lloyd?s, which traces its roots to a London coffee shop opened by Edward Lloyd in 1688, had losses of ?3.3 billion from the US hurricanes, surpassing the ?2 billion of losses related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Industrywide claims from storms including Katrina, which flooded New Orleans, may have exceeded $65 billion, Lloyd?s said.

Insurers trading on the Lloyd?s market, including Brit Insurance Holdings Plc. and Hiscox Plc., posted declines in 2005 profit last month because of storm costs.

Claims and expenses as a proportion of premiums at Lloyd?s rose to 111.8 percent, compared with 96.6 percent in 2004, as the market made a loss from underwriting.

Premium rates have risen for coverage of property and oil rigs in areas affected by the US hurricanes, insurers including Kiln Plc. have said.

The Lloyd?s market said it expects to insure as much as ?14.8 billion of business this year, up seven percent from 2005, to take advantage of rising prices.

Acting Chief Executive Officer Luke Savage said he was ?disappointed? rates across all business lines hadn?t gained.

Lloyd?s, which began as a place where merchants, ship owners and captains exchanged shipping news, now has member syndicates that insure everything from satellites, art and jewellery to commercial buildings and airplanes.

Stiffer rules were introduced by the market following a wave of claims that brought it to the brink of collapse in the early 1990s. At the time, natural disasters and US health claims related to asbestos triggered ?8.1 billion of losses for the market.

Lloyd?s created Equitas Ltd. in 1996 to handle claims that date to before 1993. The market also introduced corporate backers and scaled back its historic system under which individuals provided capital with unlimited liabilities.

The Sept. 11 attacks pushed Lloyd?s insurers into a ?3.1 billion loss in 2001 and forced them to cut sales targets.

Since then, insurers have sold stock, raised money and tightened underwriting standards in an attempt to ensure that a major catastrophe won?t threaten the market?s stability.

?We got our act together,? said Chairman Peter Levene, 64, in an interview. ?We can deal with huge claims effectively.?

At the same time, last year should not be viewed as a ?freak year? which could never happen again, said Levene.

Companies that trade at Lloyd?s include units of Warren Buffett?s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and American International Group Inc., the world?s largest insurer by market value.

Lloyd?s named Richard Ward as Chief Executive Officer last month to replace Nick Prettejohn, who left to head Prudential Plc.?s UK business. Lloyd?s is betting Ward?s role in establishing electronic trading at the International Petroleum Exchange will help modernise underwriting at the three-century- old insurance market.

?Top of our agenda for the year ahead is the reform of our business processes, which must be modernised if the Lloyd?s market is to remain competitive in future,? said Levene.

Lloyd?s is implementing a three-year strategic plan to cut costs for insurers and prevent countries such as Bermuda from gaining market share.

Hiscox, Amlin Plc., and other insurers have raised billions of dollars for reinsurance units in Bermuda looser regulations than the UK.

The market?s investment return rose to ?1.3 billion pounds from ?1.01 billion, while expenses fell 2.3 percent to ?3.67 billion.

The market?s central assets, which include a fund to pay out claims if an insurer in the market is unable to, fell 9.6 percent to about ?11 billion. Lloyd?s solvency ratio, a measure of financial strength, rose to 379 percent from 300 percent, the market said.