Exhibition centre sues insurers over losses caused by pandemic

THE owner of London’s Excel has demanded insurers cover £16m in profits lost as a result of governmentordered pandemic shutdowns.

London International Exhibition Centre has lodged a High Court claim against its six insurance companies, arguing that business inter- ruption insurance should cover the impact of Covid.

The centre was forced to close during lockdowns in 2020 and later became a Nightingale hospital fitted with 4,000 beds to ease pressure on the NHS. It lost millions of pounds in profits.

However, its insurers Royal & Sun Alliance, Allianz, CNA Insurance, Aviva, Zurich, and Chubb European, are thought to be contesting the claim.

The High Court writ states the centre is allowed to claim a payout of up to £15m as well as an additional £1m to cover the costs of additional working. The company is claiming “approximately £16m”, the documents say. The insurance policies, which the centre took out in May 2019, included an indemnity against any human contagious or infectious disease apart from Aids, according to the claim.

Venues such as the were ordered to close by Boris Johnson in March 2020 as part of a nationwide lockdown. It did not reopen until July 2021 and made an insurance claim in May 2020. Excel had expected to make a profit of £21.4m in the three months between March and June 2020, but the actual profit for the period was £3.1m.

It had made a profit of £22.1m for the same period in 2019. The venue has more than 87,000sq m of exhibition and conference space and usually hosts more than 400 events for over four million visitors a year.

Since the pandemic, several companies have filed cases against their insurers claiming they were unfairly denied payouts claimed under business interruption cover.

The Financial Conduct Authority brought a test case on behalf of 370,000 small businesses to the High Court, arguing that companies deserved compensation under these policies. The FCA won the case and insurers have since paid out over £1.2bn to more than 30,000 business customers.

A spokesman for Excel London said: “It would be inappropriate for us to make any comment while proceedings are ongoing.”

Aviva and Royal & Sun Alliance declined to comment. Allianz, CNA Insurance and Chubb European were contacted for comment.