Definity Financial Corporation saw a massive lift in net income attributable to common shareholders despite the company’s underwriting loss in the third quarter of 2024.
The company’s Q3 earnings report showed a 9.9% increase in gross written premium to $1.14 billion, with Definity reporting GWP growth across all its lines of business.
Definity’s net investment income, meanwhile, grew slightly to $49 million in the quarter. Distribution income was also up, amounting to $15.8 million. The quarter, however, witnessed a widening of Definity’s underwriting loss – from last year’s $22.8 million to $33.1 million in Q3 2024. The combined ratio for the three months was 103.4%.
Despite the negative underwriting result, Definity bounced back in Q3, with net income attributable to common shareholders reaching $104.8 million – a huge turnaround from the $48.3 million net loss posted in 2023.
Commenting on the financial results, Definity president and chief executive Rowan Saunders (pictured) noted: “Wildfires, flooding, and storms across Canada reached historic levels this summer. As impacted customers and communities work to rebuild and recover, our robust catastrophe response capabilities again delivered outstanding support.
“From a financial perspective, these events had a significant effect on our underwriting performance, representing a more than 17-point impact to our combined ratio, which was well above expectations.
“Despite this, we delivered strong premium growth and solid underlying performance across all lines of business. Our results also benefitted from ongoing expense efficiencies, healthy levels of net investment income, and strong contributions from our insurance broker platform, all of which resulted in third-quarter operating net income of $14.6 million.”
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