weston-hicks-alleghany-2
Weston Hicks, president and CEO of Alleghany
2 November 2018Insurance

Alleghany enjoys strong growth but outside insurance sector

Alleghany Corporation, which owns reinsurer  TransRe and insurers RSUI and CapSpecialty, enjoyed strong growth in the third quarter of 2018 – but this was mainly driven by non-insurance related revenues. Its profits were also hit by exposure to losses from natural catastrophes.

The company’s revenues increase by 30.6 percent overall to reach $2.1 billion. Within this, its insurance businesses increased by 1.7 percent to reach $1.2 billion and its non-insurance revenues by 47.9 percent to reach $438.3 million. Its investment income increased by 21.6 percent to reach $127.3 million.

The company absorbed catastrophe losses of $179.3 million in the period primarily arising from Hurricane Florence in the US and Typhoons Jebi and Trami in Japan.

This translated into a net profit of $284.9 million in the quarter, a big turnaround on the $314.2 million loss it made in the same period a year earlier.

The company said that TransRe’s premiums written were up modestly as the company “continues to maintain its underwriting discipline in the current market environment.”

At Alleghany’s insurance segment, growth in premiums written at both RSUI and CapSpecialty was offset by the absence of premiums from PacificComp, which was sold at year-end 2017.

Weston Hicks, president and chief executive officer of Alleghany Corporation, said: “Book value per common share1 increased 2.8 percent in the third quarter and 4.1 percent year to date to $576.14 as of September 30, 2018. Including the $10.00 per share special dividend paid on March 15, 2018, book value per common share1 increased 6.0 percent year to date.

“The growth in book value per share in the third quarter was driven mostly by appreciation of our equity securities and to a lesser extent increased investment income, partially offset by catastrophe losses totaling $179.3 million after tax in the third quarter, primarily arising from Hurricane Florence in the United States and Typhoons Jebi and Trami in Japan.

“In addition, during 2018, Alleghany Capital continued to grow its portfolio of noninsurance businesses with noninsurance revenues increasing by 56% in the first nine months of this year.”

Get all the latest re/insurance industry news with our daily newsletter -  sign up here.

More of today's news

Fairfax Financial ensures Q3 cats to produce solid results

S&P puts RenRe’s ratings on outlook negative post TMR deal

TransRe sees steady growth but posts underwriting loss in Q3

Arch buys US risk management firm McNeil

Davies acquires regulatory and compliance platform Veriphy

Admiral Group founder backs US insurtech Compare.com as it raises $35m

MGA Pukka Insure launches private car offering backed by QIC Europe

Don't miss our insurtech email newsletter - sign up today

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Elliot Field at efield@newtonmedia.co.uk or Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Insurance
2 July 2019   Alleghany Corporation has appointed Jack Sennott as chairman, chief executive officer and president of its wholly-owned subsidiary CapSpecialty, an underwriter of commercial property, casualty and surety insurance coverages.
Insurance
2 November 2018   Reinsurer TransRe, which is owned by Alleghany Corporation, enjoyed some growth in the third quarter of 2018 but made an underwriting loss as a result of exposure to various catastrophes in the third quarter.
Insurance
4 May 2018   TransRe helped boost the results of parent company Alleghany Corporation in the first quarter of 2018, though the company’s group CEO expressed disappointment that rate hikes in the reinsurance business were not higher following the high cat losses of 2017.