What’s results season without at least one major turnaround story? This morning Brit Limited brings good news.
From a US$166.5 million (around NZ$258.6 million) loss in 2018, the UK-headquartered insurance group bounced back to post a profit after tax of US$179.9 million (around NZ$279.5 million) in the year ended December 31, 2019.
Brit attributed the result to improving market conditions, a strong attritional performance, reduced major loss activity, solid prior year reserve releases, increased contribution from its managing general agent interests, and a good investment return.
Gross written premium in the period rose 2.4% to US$2.3 billion (around NZ$3.57 billion).
“I am pleased to report a return to profit for Brit, with our underwriting performance and investment return delivering a strong 2019 result, with a profit before tax of US$186.3 million and a combined ratio of 95.8%,” commented group chief executive Matthew Wilson.
“Given the ongoing market environment, I believe this is an encouraging set of results reflecting our clear strategy, which is focussed on leadership, innovation, and distribution, and the talent and commitment of our people.”
In 2019, Brit exited from certain classes written in the US and Latin America, and also made the decision to withdraw from the Lloyd’s platforms in Singapore and China. According to Wilson, the streamlining provides added focus to Brit’s core markets and products where they see the most potential.
“Looking ahead, a number of indicators give us increased cause for optimism, including continuing rate increases, the withdrawal of market capacity from certain business lines, and the measures taken by Lloyd’s to improve market competitiveness as highlighted in their ‘Blueprint One’,” noted the CEO.
“While the market is not without its challenges, our clear strategy of embracing data-driven underwriting discipline and applying rigorous risk selection, coupled with innovative capital management solutions and continued investment in distribution, uniquely positions us to respond to today’s opportunities and challenges.”
