LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Insurer Beazley

said on Tuesday it had no plans to alter its guidance in the

wake of Friday's global IT glitch, which crashed an estimated

8.5 million Windows-operated devices, crippling transport

systems and impacting financial markets.

"Given the unprecedented nature of this event and Beazley's

position as a leading cyber insurer, the company has elected to

provide an update on its position in relation to the outage."

"Based on what is known at this point, the event will not

change the current undiscounted combined ratio guidance of

low-80s for the full year," Beazley said in a statement.

The company said it will update the market on its first half

performance on August 8 and will provide any further relevant

updates in relation to this event at that time.

Beazley's shares, which have risen by around 25% year to

date, closed down 3.3% on Friday, amid some concern the

specialist insurer could see a surge in business interruption

claims following the incident.

But CrowdStrike Holdings ( CRWD ), the cybersecurity

firm at the heart of the mass outage, said the issues were due

to

a faulty systems update

rather than a malicious attack.

Beazley's cyber insurance book accounted for around

one-fifth of its gross premiums in its 2023 full year, Jefferies

said in a note to clients on Friday.

The analysts said they saw "limited risk" to the

company's special capital returns in 2024, and had forecast a

$400 million buyback for the year.