Profits soar at Markel as it dodges recent cat losses

Markel Corporation enjoyed a big increase in profits in the second quarter of 2016 which it attributed to solid underwriting results, barely affected by some of the industry-wide cat losses recently, favourable movements in its investment performance and the contribution of Markel Ventures, which invests outside of the risk-transfer business.

The company posted a comprehensive income to shareholders of $209.9 million for the second quarter of 2016 compared with $132.9 million for the second quarter of 2015.

For first the six months of the year, the equivalent figures were $606.9 million compared with $148.9 million for the same period of 2015.

The company’s combined ratio for the period was 93 percent for the second quarter of 2016 compared with 96 percent for the second quarter of 2015. The combined ratio was 90 percent for the six months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015.

The company’s earned premiums for the period dropped slightly to $950.8 million compared with $957.5 million in the same period a year earlier.

Alan Kirshner, executive chairman, said: “The second quarter of 2016 results continued to reflect strong performance from our underwriting, investing and Markel Ventures operations. We were pleased with our underwriting results which had minimal impact from the industry-wide large loss events that occurred during the quarter. Our investment portfolio benefited from favourable movements in the debt and equity markets and our Markel Ventures operations reported another quarter of year over year growth in operating revenue, EBITDA and net income.”