Cat losses hit PartnerRe’s Q2 2016 results

PartnerRe's second quarter 2016 results saw its net income rise, but the company still posted an operating loss due to catastrophe and weather-related events.

Net income for the quarter came to $136.7 million, an improvement on the net income loss of $103.1 million it reported on the same period of 2015.

However, the company said that it made a second quarter operating loss of $65.6 million ($43.9 million loss adjusted for severance related costs), due to catastrophe, weather-related and energy losses of $139 million, pre-tax, after reinsurance and reinstatement premiums.

Partner Re's gross written premiums remained stable at $1.4 billion, same figure as in the second quarter of 2015.

PartnerRe’s net investment income was $101 million in the second quarter of this year, down sharply on the $120 million it made during the second quarter of 2015.

The company said that the results were been influenced by the reduction in risk within the investment portfolio, the increased allocation to US government fixed income securities, the change in asset mix with a lower amount of high yield fixed income securities and dividend yielding equity securities and lower reinvestment rates.

“Our results for the quarter reflect a high frequency of catastrophe and large losses in the industry which has led us to post our first operating loss since the fourth quarter of 2011,” said Emmanuel Clarke, chief executive officer of PartnerRe.

The non-life sector had a combined ratio of 108.3 percent in the second quarter of 2016 compared with 90.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015.

Clarke added: “Notwithstanding these events, we were able to report a positive net income and grow our book value by 1.9% due to our disciplined underwriting approach and use of retrocessional coverage - both of which have contributed to mitigate our losses - and due to the positive results from our investment portfolio.

“We implemented a new organisation of our business units. I am extremely confident this important milestone will allow us to deliver more value to our clients and better position PartnerRe in the evolving reinsurance market environment.”