California wildfires drive $771m Q1 underwriting loss at RenRe
RenaissanceRe posted a $771 million underwriting loss in the first quarter of 2025, hit by California wildfires and large losses in its casualty and specialty segment.
By comparison, RenaissanceRe reported a $541 million underwriting profit in Q1 2024.
The first-quarter loss was driven by a $1.3 billion hit from the California wildfires, which affected RenRe’s property segment most heavily with a net negative impact on the underwriting result of $1.2 billion, as the segment fell to an underwriting loss of $607 million compared with a gain of $534 million in Q1 2024.
All of this worsened RenaissanceRe’s group combined ratio to 128% compared with 78% in Q1 2024.
Casualty and specialty reported a combined ratio of 111%, which included a 9.2 percentage point impact from large loss events in 2025.
Group-wide, RenRe reported net income of $161 million for Q1 2025, down on the previous year’s $365 million, and an operating loss of $70 million compared with a $636 million profit the year before.
However, gross premium written (GPW) rose to $4.2 billion compared with $4 billion in Q1 2024. Growth in the quarter was driven by its property segment, which more than offset a decrease in premiums in its casualty and specialty arm. Property GPW was up 12.7% to $2.1 billion but casualty was down 3.6% to £2 billion.
Kevin J O’Donnell (pictured), president and CEO, said: “This quarter, we grew our primary metric, tangible book value per share plus accumulated dividends, against a backdrop of elevated natural catastrophe losses and significant macroeconomic volatility.
“We also recorded an annualised return on average common equity of 6.6% and a modest operating loss while returning $380 million of capital to our shareholders through buybacks and dividends. Our ability to deliver enduring shareholder value in times of instability demonstrates the strength of RenaissanceRe’s platform, the benefit of our Three Drivers of Profit and the value we bring as a risk provider,” he added.
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