Bermuda domiciled financial services holding company White Mountains Insurance Group has reported a “good” first quarter with a comprehensive income of $180 million for the first quarter of 2023, up from $31 million for the same period last year.
According to the Group, these Q1 2023 results, as well as Q1 2022, were driven primarily by $85 million and $19 million of net realised and unrealized investment gains from White Mountains’s investment in MediaAlpha.
White Mountains also noted that, during the fourth quarter of 2022 its Ark partner firm sponsored the formation of Outrigger Re Ltd., a Bermuda registered special purpose insurer and segregated accounts company, to provide collateralized reinsurance protection on Ark’s Bermuda global property catastrophe excess of loss portfolio written in calendar year 2023.
As a result, the Group began to report the results of Ark and WM Outrigger Re, its own segregated account, together in this Q1 2023 report.
“We had a good first quarter,” said Manning Rountree, CEO. ABVPS was up 5%, driven by positive returns from our investment portfolio and solid results at our operating companies.
“BAM produced $21 million of gross written premiums and member surplus contributions in the quarter. Ark achieved a 94% combined ratio and, supported by increased reinsurance capacity from Outrigger Re, wrote $809 million of gross written premiums, up 28% year over year.
“Kudu closed on one new deployment and two value-adding sales transactions in the quarter, while growing the fair value of its continuing portfolio by $32 million. MediaAlpha’s share price increased roughly $5 in the quarter, producing an $85 million mark-to-market gain.”
Rountree added: “Excluding MediaAlpha, the investment portfolio returned 3.0% in the quarter, with gains in both equities and fixed income. We completed $25 million of share repurchases in the quarter. Reflecting additional commitments to Kudu and our new deployment at Doxa, undeployed capital now stands at roughly $720 million.”
