Argo contains cat losses to record a profit in third quarter
Favourable market conditions and improving underwriting margins have helped Argo Group in the last quarter, according to its results, which also show cat losses down on the previous year.
The specialty re/insurer reports a $19.8 million profit for the period, compared to a $25.1m loss for the same period in 2020. That’s helped by a 9.8 point improvement in its combined ratio. It stood at 100.3% for the three months to the end of September, against 110.1% in Q3, 2020.
Gross written premium, however, was down, falling from $890.2m in the third quarter of last year to $875.6m in the same period in 2021.
“Argo continues to pursue profitable growth, improve underwriting margins, reduce volatility and maintain disciplined expense management,” said Argo chief executive officer Kevin J Rehnberg. “The successful implementation of our strategy is evidenced in our financial performance. As we continue to optimize our business mix, the underlying strength of our core lines of business is more clear.”
He added: “We are particularly pleased that our efforts to reduce property catastrophe exposure have led to a significant improvement in our results, against the backdrop of the elevated catastrophe losses the insurance industry experienced this quarter.”
The re/insurer’s total catastrophe losses in the quarter were $27.3 million or 5.6 points on the loss ratio (including $3.0m losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic). Last year third quarter cat losses amounted to $71.2 million or 16.0 points on the loss ratio and included $16.9m COVID-19 losses.
