XL Group profit jumps in 2015 following acquisition of Lloyd’s insurer Catlin
Insurer XL Group has reported profit of $228.5m (£156.6m) for the final quarter of 2015, up from $139.5m in the same period of 2014, while profit for the full year increased to $1.2bn from $188.3m in the preceding 12 months.
The Dublin-based, New York-listed firm, which purchased Lloyd's insurer Catlin Group for £2.7bn last year, posted gross written premiums (GWP) of $2.53bn in its property & casualty (P&C) operations for the fourth quarter of last year, almost $1bn more than the $1.62bn in GWP reported at the end of 2014. Full-year GWP was up to $10.7bn from $7.7bn.
Combined ratio in the P&C arm was 92.3 per cent for the quarter, compared with 84.5 per cent the previous year, while for the year, combined ratio was 92 per cent against 88.2 per cent in 2014.
"Through 2015 XL produced solid results in a tough (re)insurance market while closing a transformative acquisition and successfully launching XL Catlin," said XL boss Mike McGavick.
"Our colleagues focused on executing a superior integration process that has thus far exceeded our expectations for both business and talent retention as well as synergy savings. Looking to 2016, taking into account the continued pressure from both the (re)insurance and investment markets, we feel we are well positioned to capitalize on our increased market relevance and to find new areas of innovation and opportunity."