Assured Guaranty net income jumps by 35%
Surety insurer Assured Guaranty produced a 35% increase in net income as new business rose and the company seemed to benefit from the sale of its asset management business which reduced expenses.
The Bermuda-based insurer said net income rose to $109 million while net earned premiums jumped to $119 million from $81 million and investment income improved.
While the company's disposal of its asset management business dropped revenues by $26 million, this was offset by a $24 million drop in employee compensation and benefit expenses while other operating expenses fell $16 million to $39 million.
"Assured Guaranty produced excellent first quarter 2024 results,” said Dominic Frederico, president and CEO. “First quarter net income increased 35% year over year, and adjusted operating income increased 66%. Shareholders’ equity per share, adjusted operating shareholders’ equity per share, and adjusted book value per share all reached record levels of $102.19, $107.69 and $157.31, respectively.
"New business written produced $61 million of gross written premiums and $63 million of present value of new business production (PVP), reflecting strong production in US public finance and global structured finance."
He added: “In US public finance, we continued to lead the bond insurance industry in primary market par sold. Premiums were strong in the first quarter, with new municipal business producing approximately twice as much GWP and PVP as in last year’s first quarter, on a similar amount of gross par written, due to several large transportation revenue issuances this year.
“In April of this year, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our IPO. Since that time through the end of the first quarter, our share price has increased almost 385%, more than those of the S&P 500 Financials, the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NYSE Composite Index, and we have paid common share dividends of $1 billion. For 2024, we have ramped up our share repurchase programme, repurchasing $129 million of common shares in the first quarter alone, which equals 2.7% of our shares outstanding on December 31, 2023.”
Overall, the company cut expenses by $24% or $40 million to $125 million, while revenues fell from $283 million to $245 million. Equity in earnings of investees rose from $2 million to $24 million, which primarily relates to the company's investment in Sound Point, which bought its investment management business.
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