AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has revealed its financial results for the second quarter of 2020, which saw a noticeable drop in net income – despite an increase in gross written premiums.
For the second quarter ended June 30, 2020, AXIS Capital posted net income available to common shareholders at US$112 million (around NZ$168 million, or US$1.33 per diluted common share). This represents a year-over-year decrease from Q2 2019’s net income available to common shareholders of US$166 million (around NZ$249 million, or US$1.97 per diluted common share).
Net loss attributable to common shareholders for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was US$73 million (or US$0.87 per diluted common share), compared to net income available to common shareholders of US$265 million (or US$3.14 per diluted common share) for the same period last year.
Operating income for AXIS Capital for Q2 2020 was US$72 million (or US$1.11 per diluted common share), in contrast to the company’s Q2 2019 operating income of US$137 million (or US$1.62 per diluted common share}.
Not everything was a loss for AXIS; the company posted an increase of US$68 million in gross premiums written for the quarter, representing a 4% increase to a US$1.7 billion total. The company explained that this jump was due to an increase of US$69 million, or 7%, in its insurance segment.
“This was a solid quarter highlighted by continued positive momentum in the underlying performance of our company. We’re encouraged by the progress that we’re seeing in our results, which include a nearly two point year-over-year improvement in our current accident year loss ratio ex-cat and weather, and an approximately three point reduction to our expense ratio, reflecting our cost discipline,” said AXIS Capital CEO Albert Benchimol.
Benchimol added that the investments AXIS Capital has made to strengthen its market position enables the company to “capitalise on firming conditions,” especially in markets that are experiencing “the most impactful changes.” The chief executive also mentioned that the company has seen improved pricing across nearly every line of insurance business that AXIS writes, noting that there were average rate increases of 15% in the quarter.
