AXIS warns Q4 results will be impacted by cat losses

AXIS Capital Holdings has warned investors to expect “modest” profits when it announces its Q4 2019 results later this month.

AXIS said its Q4 results have been impacted by a pre-tax loss for catastrophes and other weather-related events of $140 million, net of estimated reinsurance recoveries and reinstatement premiums.

This included a pre-tax loss for Japanese Typhoon Hagibis of $93 million, primarily attributable to its reinsurance segment, in line with its previous estimates.

AXIS warned that its Q4 numbers will also be dragged down by a pre-tax underwriting loss for its reinsurance agriculture business of approximately $29 million. This was primarily related to poor weather conditions that impacted its US and India books of business.

AXIS’ results will include a net favourable prior year reserve development of $14 million, primarily attributable to motor, credit, surety and political risk. However, this will be partially offset by loss development attributable to Hurricane Irma, which was consistent with industry trends, AXIS said.

AXIS Capital will formally release its results on January 29, with an investor call to discuss them scheduled for the following day. Its loss estimates are based on its ground-up assessment of losses from individual contracts and treaties exposed to the affected regions, including preliminary information from clients, brokers and loss adjusters, the re/insurer said. Industry insured loss estimates, market share analyses and catastrophe modeling analyses were also used.