Global specialty insurance firm, Octave Specialty Group, Inc. (Octave), formerly known as Ambac Financial Group, Inc., has reported increases of 34% and 978% in Everspan’s gross and net premiums written to $80 million and $23 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2025.
For comparison, in Q4’25, Everspan’s gross and net premiums written were approximately $60 millon and -$2.6 million. Despite the increases, Everspan’s combined ratio for the quarter rose to 99.4% from 96.5% in Q4’25, driven by a higher loss ratio of 61.8%.
Everspan, the firm’s specialty property and casualty (P&C) insurance segment, reported a dip of 7% in total revenues for Q4’25 to $23 million, compared to $24.8 million in Q4’24.
The net income also went down by 37% to $1 million, compared to $1.8 million in Q4’24. Lastly, the adjusted EBITDA was down 46% to $1.5 million, compared to $2.7 million in Q4’24.
However, Octave repeated that total P&C premium production increased 15% for the quarter to $303 million.
For the Insurance Distribution segment, Octave placed premiums of $223 million, a 9% rise from $205 million in Q4’25.
The segment reported a total revenue growth of 5% for Q4’25 to $46.5 million compared to $44 million in Q4’24. Overall, there was an organic revenue growth of 8.1% for this quarter.
In the segment, net income improved by 77% to -$1.1 million, compared to -$4.9 million in Q4’25. Meanwhile, net loss to shareholders was -$1 million for the quarter, an improvement of 76% compared to -$6 million in Q4’24.
For Q4’25, adjusted EBITDA to shareholders is $7 million, up 33% form $5.3 million in Q4’24. Lastly, commission income grew to $37 million, an increase of 13%
Overall, for Q4’25, Octave reported total revenue from continuing operations of $67 million, an increase of 3% compared to the $65 million in Q4’24, driven by the Insurance Distribution Segment and Corporate operations, which more than offset a decline in revenue in the Specialty P&C Segment.
The quarter’s net loss from continuing operations to shareholders increased by $8 million to $30 million compared to $22 million in Q4’24. This hike was primarily attributed to costs related to the ArmadaCare acquisition, expenses due to exit from the financial guarantee business, related expense reduction initiatives, and the impairment of a minority investment from a legacy strategy.
Finally, the adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $1.4 million compared to $0.5 million in Q4’24, driven by a $1.7 million increase in insurance distribution adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by a $1.2 million decline in Adjusted EBITDA at Everspan, associated primarily with Everspan’s decline in revenue. Adjusted EBITDA also benefited from a $0.4 million improvement at Corporate related to the initial benefits of our corporate expense reduction initiatives, explained Octave.
During October 2025, Octave repurchased over 3.1 million shares of its outstanding common stock through a 10B5-1 program, representing 6.7% of shares outstanding and 6.5% of basic weighted shares outstanding as last reported.
Claude LeBlanc, President and Chief Executive Officer, Octave, stated, “The fourth quarter of 2025 marked the end of a transformational year and the beginning of what we believe is a new era for our company. Following the sale of our legacy financial guarantee business in the third quarter, the acquisition of ArmadaCare in the fourth quarter, and our rebranding as Octave Specialty Group, we emerged as a pure-play specialty P&C company.
“In the fourth quarter, our insurance distribution business delivered organic growth of over 8%, finishing the year at just over 14%, as we continued to execute on our strategy to build a high-growth, specialty insurance distribution platform that delivers significant long-term value to our shareholders. ArmadaCare, a leading specialty A&H and workplace benefit MGA platform that we recently acquired, materially advances our strategic position by further diversifying our specialty business model in uncorrelated, high-growth segments of the market.”
He continued, “During the fourth quarter, we also launched 1889 Specialty, a management liability and professional lines MGA focused on the SME market and backed by A+ capacity. We expect these investments, our expanded and further diversified portfolio of MGA/Us, and our recent corporate cost reduction actions to substantially advance our long-term growth strategy.
“This is truly an exciting time for us. We believe our partnership structure and unique MGA incubator model, which includes aligned capacity and shared technology and business services, continue to distinguish us in the marketplace. As we enter 2026, we expect strong organic growth, bolstered by continued momentum across our core business, including the stable of strong start-ups launched in 2024 and 2025, which are positioned to deliver strong top- and bottom-line growth as these businesses continue to scale.”
