SCOR, the French reinsurance giant, said it produced healthy results in the 2014 second quarter and the first half of the year, driven, in part, by a lower level of natural catastrophes than previously expected and a generally improved performance in its property/casualty arm.
“It is a strong set of results for the first half of 2014, SCOR Chairman and CEO Denis Kessler said at the start of the company’s earnings call. He said the results both “confirm the validity” of executives’ strategy as well as the “dynamics” of the strategy plan.
SCOR booked $342.7 million in consolidated net income for the first six months of 2014, up from $253 million over the same period last year. For the 2014 second quarter, the company pulled in $162 million in net income, a jump over $104.4 million in the 2013 second quarter.
Gross written premiums for SCOR surpassed $7.2 billion in the first half of 2014, up from $6.7 billion in the first half of 2013. That’s a hike of nearly 9 percent at current exchange rates, something the company attributes to strong global property/casualty renewals, new contracts in its life division and its $750 million Generali US Life Re acquisition last year.
The 2014 second quarter reflected similar gains, with gross written premiums of nearly $3.7 billion, versus $3.5 billion in the 2013 second quarter.
The company’s property/casualty combined ratio averaged 90.9 for the first half of 2014 versus 94.3 in the same period last year. Similarly, the 2014 second quarter produced a property/casualty combined ratio of 92.8 versus 98 in the 2013 second quarter.
SCOR’s annualized return on investment reached 10.3 percent from January to June 2014, up from 8.1 percent in the first six months of 2013. The 2014 second quarter generated a 9.8 percent return on investment, up from a 6.7 percent figure in the 2013 second quarter.
After executives explained various aspects of the company’s performance during the second quarter and first six months of 2014, Kessler was asked to give closing remarks.
After diving through the numbers, he had only a few things to say, including: “Enjoy the summertime.”