Aspen swings to loss in Q2

Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings has reported a loss in the second quarter of 2018 due to the impact of investments and foreign exchange.

The company made a net loss after tax of $14.7 million in the second quarter of 2018 compared with net income of $75.8 million in the second quarter of 2017.

The loss in the second quarter of 2018 included a negative $20.7 million from investment losses compared with $42.0 million of investment gains in the second quarter of 2017. The loss also included a negative $40.9 million foreign exchange losses compared with a negative $3.0 in the second quarter of 2017. Aspen was also impacted in the second quarter by an $8.6 million make-whole payment associated with the partial redemption of Aspen's 6.0 percent senior notes due 2020.

Overall, the group’s gross written premiums increased 3.9 percent year on year to $853.8 million in the second quarter of 2018, driven by the primary insurance segment.

The insurance operations grew gross written premiums by 8.5 percent year on year to $527.8million in the second quarter of 2018 due to growth across all sub-segments. At the same time, the reinsurance operations shrank gross written premiums by 2.9 percent to $326.0 million in the second quarter. The decline was due to a decrease in specialty sub-segment premiums, the company said.

Overall the combined ratio improved to 97.4 percent in the second quarter of 2018 compared to 100.0 percent in the same period a year ago.

“Aspen’s second quarter results demonstrate ongoing execution of our plan to enhance performance,” said CEO Chris O’Kane. “This included the continued successful repositioning of Aspen Insurance, which had its second consecutive record quarter in terms of gross written premium, another quarter of solid results and pricing discipline at Aspen Re and significant progress in the implementation of our Operational Effectiveness and Efficiency programme. In addition, we reduced debt leverage through the partial redemption of our senior notes,” O’Kane noted.

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