Berkshire boosts 2016 premiums to become one of the world’s leading P&C insurers

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance boosted premium volumes by 40 percent in 2016 to $1.3 billion.

“It’s clear to me that the company is destined to become one of the world’s leading P/C (property/casualty) insurers,” Warren Buffett commented in the 2016 annual report.

For the insurance operations which include BH Reinsurance, General Re, GEICO, Berkshire reported an underwriting profit of $2.13 billion, up from $1.84 billion in 2015.

BH Reinsurance doubled the underwriting profit in 2016 to $822 million from $421 million a year before.

While the three major operations increased their profits over the period, a collection of smaller companies that primarily write commercial coverages and are included in the results under “Other Primary” reported lower underwriting profit of $657 million compared to $824 million in 2015.