Property and casualty drives PartnerRe net income increases in Q2
PartnerRe significantly increased its net income in Q2 2019 compared to the same period last year, largely driven by its non life business, and in particular a successful quarter for its property and casualty business.
The reinsurer delivered net income available to common shareholders of $285 million in Q2 2019, including net realised and unrealised investment gains of $164 million on fixed maturities and short-term investments.
That compared with $125 million for the second quarter of 2018, also including net realised and unrealised investment gains.
In its non life business PartnerRe saw underwriting profit increase to $95 million in Q2, up from $62 million in the same period of 2018.
It reported a combined ratio of 92.8 percent for its non life business in Q2, compared with 94.7 percent in the same period of 2018. Non-life net written premiums increased 15 percent to $1.45 billion, driven by a 24 percent increase in the property and casualty segment, and a 5 percent increase in the specialty segment.
Meanwhile profitability in its life and health business, including underwriting and allocated net investment income, declined by $9 million year on year, to $14 million in Q2. Life and health net premiums written increased 28 percent in the same period, to $392 million.
Emmanuel Clarke, president and CEO at PartnerRe, said: “We delivered solid second quarter results, driven by strong performance in our P&C segment and excellent investments results, more than offsetting loss activity in our specialty and life segments. This demonstrates the value of our well-diversified book of business and the positive impact of actions we took in 2018 to improve performance of our P&C and Investments portfolios.”
Clarke said he was encouraged by the better market conditions visible in large portions of its non-life business. “PartnerRe is well-positioned to benefit from this improved margin environment, as demonstrated by our 15 percent non-life premium growth over 2018,” he said.
“At the same time, we are pursuing our strategy to grow our life and health business, with 28 percent growth in premium over the past year. I am confident this positions us to deliver a strong performance for 2019 and beyond,” Clarke added.
