New Hiscox chairman downplays vote threat The executive at Hiscox who will become the specialist insurer's chairman on Tuesday downplayed the prospect of shareholders opposing his appointment because of corporate governance concerns. Robert Hiscox, outgoing chairman, has previously warned leading institutions may vote against the succession by Robert Childs because of a "tick box" approach to managing their holdings. However, Mr Childs, former chief underwriting officer, said on Monday he believed Hiscox shareholders were "comfortable" with him taking the chair in spite of the UK corporate governance code frowning upon appointments of internal candidates. His comments came as Mr Hiscox bowed out on a high with plans to distribute £200m to shareholders, equivalent to almost all its annual earnings and a tenth of its market capitalisation. Shares in Hiscox, which insures satellites, oil tankers and chemical plants, rallied to fresh all-time highs. Like its peers Hiscox recovered strongly in 2012 from a prior year marked by a costly run of natural catastrophe claims. Pre-tax profits jumped from £17m to £217m, translating into diluted earnings per share of 50.9p (5.3p). The planned capital distribution echoes that by fellow specialist insurers Beazley and Lancashire, which have also returned surplus capital to shareholders instead of deploying it writing new business. However, the strategy contrasts with other rivals - notably Catlin, which has been seeking to expand into overseas territories such as China and Latin America and decided against a special payout. Mr Hiscox joined the family business in 1965 and led a push into the new territories of continental Europe, the US and Bermuda as he transformed the business into a FTSE 250 company. However, he said on Monday the Lloyd's of London insurer should venture into apparently fast-growing regions only "with great caution." "We are well aware of the graveyard of businesses which have expanded overseas," he said. After an interim payment of 6p, the group will pay a special dividend of 38p and make a final payment of 12p through a "B share" arrangement. This compares with a total dividend of 17p a year ago. The B share scheme allows individual shareholders to take the return as a capital gain rather than income. Mr Hiscox, a UK taxpayer, has a stake worth £25m. Hiscox wrote £1.27bn worth of premiums in 2012, after paying for reinsurance, up from £1.17bn a year earlier. Shares in Hiscox rose 16p to 514.50p.