View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2015/07/28/376504.htm

Aspen Reports Q2 Net Income of $49M, Operating Income of $72.2M

Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited, headquartered in Bermuda, reported net income after tax of $49.0 million for the second quarter ended June 30, or $0.62 per diluted share, compared to net income after tax of $130.8 million reported during the same period in 2014.

Operating income after tax during the second quarter was $72.2 million, or $0.99 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2015, compared with operating income after tax of $102.8 million reported during the second quarter in 2014.

“Through the first half of the year we continued to execute on our diversified Insurance and Reinsurance strategy, achieving a 10.6 percent annualized operating return on equity,” according to Chris O’Kane, chief executive officer, in a company statement.

“Our reinsurance segment once again had an excellent performance with an impressive accident year ex-cat loss ratio of 51.4 percent in the second quarter. In our insurance segment our U.S. platform continued to grow into scale with 23.9 percent premium growth in the quarter,” said O’Kane.

He noted that in Aspen’s international markets, the rate environment varied by line and geography.

“We reduced our exposure in certain energy-related Lloyd’s lines where rates were under pressure and competition was intense and as a result our level of Insurance premiums declined,” O’Kane continued.

“This, combined with several mid-sized losses, had a negative effect on this quarter’s insurance results. We redeployed capital to those opportunities which were better rated and will continue to do so. We expect to achieve 11 percent operating return on equity for 2015,” he said.

Highlights for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2015 include:

• Net income after tax for the first half came to $177.0 million, compared with $251.2 million for the same period in 2014.
• Gross written premiums decreased by 7.3 percent to $722.8 million in the second quarter of 2015, compared with $779.3 million reported during the second quarter of 2014
• Gross written premiums came to $1.642 billion for the first half of 2015, compared with $1.635 billion reported for the first half of 2014.
• A combined ratio of 93.6 percent was reported for the second quarter of 2015 compared with 90.1 percent for the second quarter of 2014. Net favorable development on prior year loss reserves for the second quarter of 2015 was $31.1 million, or 5.1 combined ratio points, compared with $31.8 million, or 5.2 combined ratio points, in the comparable period a year ago.
• Pre-tax catastrophe losses net of reinsurance recoveries totaled $11.9 million, or 2.0 combined ratio points, in the second quarter of 2015 compared with $22.1 million, or 3.6 combined ratio points, of pre-tax catastrophe losses net of reinsurance recoveries in the second quarter of 2014.

Source: Aspen Insurance Holdings