Everest Group Ltd.’s first-quarter net income more than doubled from the previous year, to $733 million from $365 million on improved underwriting and strong net investment income generation.
“Group underwriting income increased 50% over the prior year to a quarterly record of $409 million with a combined ratio of 88.8, driven by both of our underwriting franchises,” Juan C. Andrade, Everest president and chief executive officer, said in a statement announcing the results.
Net written premiums increased to $3.90 billion from $3.33 billion. The combined ratio of 88.8 improved from 91.2 in the prior year. The first-quarter combined ratio was 87.3 for the reinsurance segment and 93.1 for insurance.
Net investment income improved to $457 million compared with $260 million, driven by a larger asset base and strong core fixed income returns.
The company’s reinsurance segment saw pretax catastrophe losses of $80 million net of estimated recoveries and reinstatement premiums, driven primarily by the Baltimore bridge collapse. The insurance segment’s pretax catastrophe losses were $5 million, net of estimated recoveries and reinstatement premiums, which it said was “relatively in-line with the prior year.”
“Our reinsurance business continued to differentiate Everest during another outstanding January 1 renewal as the flight to quality accelerated,” Andrade said. We gained market share with targeted clients, positioning the portfolio for attractive levels of profitability. In our insurance division, we advanced our disciplined expansion across global markets, while remaining focused on prudent risk selection and the bottom line.”
Everest recently promoted Jill Beggs to reinsurance executive vice president and chief operating officer of the reinsurance division, and Jiten Voralia to head of North America treaty reinsurance. Both appointments were effective immediately.