Third Point Re GWP plummets by 83% in Q3

Bermuda-based Third Point Re has seen its gross written premium (GWP) fall sharply by 82.8 percent in the third quarter of 2018 due to unsatisfactory underlying pricing, terms and conditions.

Gross premiums written decreased to $30.1 million in the third quarter of 2018 from $174.5 million in the same period of 2017. The decrease in GWP was primarily due to Third Point Re’s decision not to renew an $89.3 million contract as a result of underlying pricing, terms and conditions and a net decrease of $41.0 million for contracts written or renewed in the prior year period with no comparable premium in the current year period, according to a corporate statement.

At the same time, net premiums earned grew to $128.0 million in the third quarter from $106.0 million, primarily due to a higher in-force underwriting portfolio, the company said.

The combined ratio improved to 104.9 percent from 111.9 percent over the period. Nevertheless, Third Point Re reported a net loss of $13.3 million for the third quarter of 2018 after a net profit of $54.7 million in the same period a year ago.

"Recent investment performance has been disappointing, including a small net investment loss for the third quarter,” said CEO Rob Bredahl. “However, we remain on target to reduce our combined ratio by gradually shifting our reinsurance portfolio towards higher margin business,” he added.

"As part of our plan to reduce our combined ratio, we expect to begin writing a modest amount of property cat excess of loss beginning next year. To date, we have not written this class of business. Consequently, our exposure to third quarter cat events was insignificant and we estimate that our exposure to hurricane Michael and other recent fourth quarter cat events will be less than $4 million," Bredahl noted.

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