Berkley’s Q3 Net Income Came in Flat; Premiums, Investment Income Grew

W.R. Berkley Corp.’s third quarter featured flat net income but also higher premiums and soaring investment income.

The Connecticut-based insurer and reinsurer said it generated $162 million in net income during the 2018 third quarter, or $1.26 per diluted share, on par with the 2017 third quarter.

Its insurance combined ratio was 94.9, better than the 95.6 figure produced a year ago. W.R. Berkley’s reinsurance combined ratio was 107.9, well above the below-100 numbers considered healthy. But that result improves over the 153.6 reinsurance combined ratio booked in the 2017 third quarter.

W.R. Berkley’s net investment income surpassed $186 million during the quarter, much higher than the $142.6 million produced in the 2017 third quarter. The insurer credited, in part, strong investment income results for its investment funds as well as a bigger yield on fixed-income securities, plus a higher base of invested assets.

Here are additional result highlights:

• Consolidated gross premiums written were $1.9 billion, up from $1.87 billion in the 2017 third quarter.
• Consolidated net premiums written reached $1.6 billion compared to $1.57 billion a year ago.
• Catastrophe losses for the quarter were $39 million versus $119 million in the 2017 third quarter.
• Insurance gross premiums written for Q3 were nearly $1.8 billion compared to 41.7 billion in the 2017 third quarter. Net premiums written were $1.5 billion, up from $1.4 billion in the 2017 third quarter.
• Reinsurance gross premiums written reached nearly $133.7 million during the quarter, down from $155.6 million a year ago. Net premiums written were $119.4 million, down from more than $138.8 million in the same, year-ago period.

Source: W.R. Berkley Corp.