Fairfax posts record results
Fairfax Financial Holdings, the holding company for several re/insurance operations including OdysseyRe, posted record results for 2014.
Its profits hiked to $1.6 billion in 2014, compared with a loss of $573.4 million in 2013. Fairfax said this reflected net gains on its investment portfolio and improved underwriting results.
Fairfax’s insurance and reinsurance operations’ combined ratio hit 90.8 percent, producing an underwriting profit of $552 million, compared to a combined ratio and underwriting profit of 92.7 percent and $440 million respectively in 2013.
Its gross written premiums also grew in 2014 to $7.5 billion, compared with $7.2 billion in 2013.
Overall, its net written premiums increased to $6.3 billion in 2014, compared with $6 billion in 2013. Within this, OdysseyRe’s net written premiums grew slightly to $2.4 billion.
"Our results in 2014 were the best in our 29-year history, with record underwriting profit of $552 million and record net earnings of $1,633 million," said Prem Watsa, chairman and chief executive officer of Fairfax.
"We had a record combined ratio of 90.8 percent, with OdysseyRe at 84.7 percent and all our major insurance companies having combined ratios less than 100 percent. We also had net investment gains of $1.74 billion in 2014, including realised gains of $791 million.
“We are maintaining our defensive equity hedges and deflation protection as we remain concerned about the financial markets and the economic outlook in this global deflationary environment."
