AXIS reports rise in Q2 2018 profits
AXIS Capital Holdings has announced that it made a profit of $93 million in the second quarter of 2018, compared to net income of $85 million for the same period of 2017.
The quarter’s results takes the company to a first half 2018 profit of $155 million, a substantial rise from the $90 million it made over for the same period in 2017.
Operating income for the second quarter of 2018 was $106 million, compared to operating income of $110 million for the second quarter of 2017. For the six months ended June 30, 2018, AXIS Capital reported operating income of $229 million, compared to operating income of $161 million for the same period in 2017.
According to the company gross premiums written increased by $288 million, or 21 percent, to $1.7 billion, with an increase of 34 percent in the insurance segment, primarily attributable to the acquisition of Novae Group on October 2, 2017, and an increase of 4 percent in the reinsurance segment.
AXIS pointed out that adjusting for the impact of the Novae acquisition, gross premiums written decreased by $36 million, or 3 percent, with a decrease of $29 million, or 4 percent in the insurance segment and a decrease of $7 million, or 1 percent in the reinsurance segment.
Net premiums written increased by 5 percent to $1.0 billion.
“The momentum of our transformation and portfolio optimisation is evidenced in our second consecutive quarter of double digit ex-PGAAP ROACE, as we further integrate Novae into our business and enhance our operating platform to deliver superior and sustainable profitability,” said Albert Benchimol, president and chief executive officer of AXIS Capital. “As a result of our strong market position, we continue to attract and retain high-quality business, allowing us to deliver better risk adjusted returns despite ongoing challenging market conditions.
“In recent years, AXIS has taken a series of actions to improve efficiency and position the Company to be profitable under a wide range of market conditions. Our team’s efforts continue to gain real traction towards building a unique and differentiated hybrid underwriting platform that will drive long-term profitable growth. We still have plenty of work ahead of us, but we are showing encouraging results. We have a sound strategy focusing on attractive specialty lines, leadership and relevance in key markets, and a talented team focused on delivering outstanding expertise and service to our customers and partners in distribution, and superior results to our shareholders. As long as we remain focused on the steadfast execution of our strategy, the future for AXIS is very exciting.”
