ZURICH Financial Services, one of Swindon's largest local employers, has finally come out of the red.

The company's latest half year reports show that its operating profit has increased by 56 per cent to US$1.3bn for the first half of 2003.

This is a significant improvement on last year's loss of $US$2bn for the same period. Zurich claims its turnaround is based on better claims and expense management in core business and is starting to reap the results of an action programme put in place last year to restore the group to profitability. This has seen Zurich, which employs about 4,000 people in Swindon, exiting from non-core businesses such as their sale of Threadneedle to American Express and Zurich Life to Bank One.

James J Schiro, chief executive officer, said: "The record for the first six months of 2003 confirms that our action plan and our goal of restoring Zurich's profitability are on track. "The programme is on plan to contribute US$1-bn to our bottom line and, based on the record of the first six months, we expect it to remain on target for the remainder of the year."