Cat losses dent PartnerRe results; CEO Clarke bullish on 2019 outlook

Bermuda-based reinsurer PartnerRe has reported losses in both its fourth quarter 2018 and full year results but its CEO Emmanuel Clarke is confident that the company will be able to deliver "solid returns" to its shareholder in 2019.

The reinsurer posted a net loss of $132 million for full-year 2018, which it said was driven by losses related to Typhoons Jebi and Trami, Hurricanes Florence and Michael, and California wildfires of $386 million.

In 2017, its net profit was $218 million, including losses related to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and California wildfires of $569 million.

For the fourth quarter 2018, PartnerRe posted $32 million net loss, compared with a net profit of $72 million in Q4 2017. It said the losses were driven by $282 million cost related to Hurricane Michael and California wildfires.

“The third and fourth quarters of 2018 were active periods of catastrophic loss events which impacted the company's non-life combined ratio," said the company's president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Clarke.

"In the face of another year of above normal insured catastrophic loss activity for the industry, PartnerRe was able to deliver once again a profit, excluding the volatility of our investment grade fixed income portfolio and the foreign exchange impact, thanks to our diversified and profitable book of business and our gross-to-net strategy.”

Overall, Clarke believes that the improvement in margins will lead to better returns in 2019.

He said: “We are seeing increasing opportunities to deploy our capital at our target return across our portfolio and the 2019 year has started on a positive note, with strong execution at the January renewals where we reported double-digit year-on-year growth in non-life premium production with improved margins across several classes and geographies.

"With further improvement in margins expected throughout the year, I am confident that we will continue to build on these achievements, alongside our expected continued growth in life and health and improved income generation in our investments portfolio, to deliver solid returns to our shareholder in 2019.”

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