Axis Capital sees profits rise in Q1 2018 results
AXIS Capital Holdings has announced that it made a first quarter 2018 profit of $63 million, a substantial increase on the $5 million profit it made for the same quarter of 2017.
Operating income for the first quarter of 2018 was $123 million, compared to operating income of $51 million, for the first quarter of 2017.
Gross premiums written increased by $751 million, or 39 percent, to $2.7 billion, with an increase of 62 percent in the insurance segment, primarily attributable to the acquisition of Novae Group which closed on October 2, 2017, and an increase of 30 percent in the reinsurance segment.
Adjusting for the impact of the Novae acquisition, gross premiums written increased by $399 million, or 21 percent, with an increase of 27 percent in the reinsurance segment and an increase of 6 percent in the insurance segment.
Net premiums written increased by 32 percent to $2.0 billion, whilst net premiums earned increased by 24 percent to $1.2 billion. The company reported a combined ratio of 90.8 percent for the quarter, down when compared to the 102.1 percent it reported in the same period of 2017.
“Over the past several years, AXIS has taken action to become a relevant and leading player in a select number of attractive specialty insurance and reinsurance markets, positioned to deliver superior results across a wide range of market conditions,” said Albert Benchimol, president and chief executive officer of AXIS Capital. "This quarter's results demonstrate the benefits of our portfolio optimisation initiatives and overall earnings potential, highlighted by broad-based improvement in underwriting profitability across our operations and an annualised ex-PGAAP operating ROACE of 12.0 percent in the quarter.
“Our efforts to realise AXIS' potential are generating traction. Earlier this year we launched a new phase of our transformation efforts, an enterprise-wide program to further modernise all of our functions and position AXIS to lead in a transforming industry.
“We are focused on getting better, smarter, and faster in serving our clients and partners in distribution. We will, on the one hand, be more efficient in the delivery of our differentiated services, and on the other, invest in greater analytics, technology and development for our staff. Through the combined impact of the Novae integration and our transformation efforts, we expect to deliver savings of $100 million by year-end 2020, even as we continue to invest in leading capabilities.”
