French reinsurer SCOR generated net income of €233 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 43.2% on the comparable prior year quarter, as gross written premiums (GWP) across the Group increased by 2.5% to €5.1 billion, driven by growth in property and casualty (P&C).
SCOR’s solid Q4 2024 performance has helped offset the net loss reported in the previous quarter, although net income for the full year is still down by 99.5% on 2023’s figure to €4 million.
Looking at the quarter, Group-wide, insurance revenue increased 4% to €4 billion, while the insurance service result decreased by 14.3% to €357 million, with annualised ROE of 22.8%, up on Q4 2023’s 15%.
Net income excluding the mark to market impact of the option on own shares rose by 31.4% to €235 million, as the contractual service margin fell 8.9% year on year to €4.1 billion.
For full year 2024, SCOR has reported Group insurance revenue of €16.1 billion, a rise of 1.3% on 2023, and GWP of €20.1 billion, an increase of 3.6% year on year.
The 2024 insurance service result declined by 71% year on year to €432 million, as the annualised ROE fell significantly from 18.1% in 2023 to 0.1% in 2024.
Net income excluding the mark to market impact of the option on own shares decreased by 98.6% to €11 million, as the contractual service margin fell 8.9% to €4.1 billion.
The decline in net income for the year reflects the impacts of the outcome of the 2024 L&H assumption review accounting for €-700 million in insurance service result and €-900 million in contractual service margin.
Within SCOR’s P&C re/insurance business, insurance revenue fell 0.5% to €1.9 billion in the fourth quarter, but increased 1.9% to €7.6 billion in the full year. The P&C insurance service result declined 32.6% to €238 million in Q4’24 and declined by 13.1% to €779 million in FY’24.
SCOR attributes the Q4’24 insurance service result to a CSM amortization of €252 million, a risk adjustment release of €45 million, a negative experience variance of €-38 million and an impact of onerous contract of €-21 million.
“The negative experience variance reflects the prudence building and a low level of retrocession recoveries,” says the firm.
P&C GWP increased 6.2% to €2.5 billion in Q4’24, and increased by 4.4% to €9.9 billion for FY’24.
The P&C combined ratio, while still strong, deteriorated by 7.5 percentage points to 83.1% in Q4’24, and by 1.3 percentage points to 86.3% for FY’24. The quarter’s combined ratio includes a natural catastrophe ratio of 6.4%, mainly impacted by Hurricane Milton losses. For the full year, SCOR’s P&C nat cat ratio of 9.4% is better than the 10% budget.
On the 2025 California wildfires, which will have an impact on SCOR’s Q1’25 P&C result, the company has estimated losses at around €140 million, pre-tax and net of retrocessions, which is in line with its nat cat budget level for the opening quarter of this year.
The P&C new business CSM in Q4’24 stands at €-43 million, compared with €-76 million in Q4’23, impacted by limited renewals in Q4 and an early recognition of the cost of some retrocession contracts renewed at 1 January 2025. For FY’24, the P&C new business CSM increased 7.6% to €1 billion.
Turning to the life and health (L&H) reinsurance business, and it was a much stronger performance in Q4’24 than in the previous quarter, although the full year result did suffer amid the aforementioned L&H assumption review.
Q4’24 L&H insurance revenue increased 8.6% year on year to €2.1 billion, and is up 0.7% to €8.5 billion for full year 2024. The L&H insurance service result increased by a significant 87.5% to €119 million in Q4’24, but declined by 159.1% to €-348 million for FY’24. L&H new business CSM rose 25.4% to €113 million in Q4’24, and increased 4.1% to €485 million in FY’24. SCOR attributes the higher new business CSM to Protection and also new deals in Longevity.
L&H GWP fell by 0.9% to €2.5 billion in Q4’24 but increased by 2.8% to €10.2 billion for FY’24.
On the asset side of the balance sheet, SCOR generated total investment income on invested assets of €195 million for Q4’24, with a return on invested assets of 3.3%.
Thierry Léger, Chief Executive Officer of SCOR, said: “I am satisfied with the fourth quarter results. All business activities contribute to a strong consolidated Group net income. On a full year basis, P&C performance is excellent: the Nat Cat ratio is below the 10% budget, and the underlying performance enables us to build significant prudence two years ahead of plan. Investments performance is strong over the year, taking advantage of the current market conditions.
“In L&H, we took decisive actions to restore profitability. With a solvency ratio of 210% at year-end remaining in the upper part of the optimal range, SCOR demonstrates resilience as well as enhanced underlying capital generation, leading to a proposed dividend of EUR 1.8 per share. In the prevailing market environment, I’m fully confident that SCOR will continue to grow profitably in diversifying lines of business by leveraging its Tier 1 franchise. We are committed to delivering our Forward 2026 ambitions.”
