W. R. Berkley Corporation has posted record underwriting profit of $202.2 million for the second quarter of 2021, as net premiums written increased by 27.2%.
Overall, the company posted operating income of $219.1 million, compared with just $11.6 million in the same period last year, while its six-month total was $420.8 million, versus $144.1 million previously.
Similarly, net income was $237.2 million for Q2 this year and $466.8 million for H1, compared with $71.3 million and $66.8 million for the respective periods last year.
This improvement was largely due to a 96.9% increase in net investment income during Q2, which amounted to $168.2 million for the quarter.
And results were also boosted by top line growth, as net premiums written increased from $1.7 billion to $2.2 billion for the Q2 period, and from $3.6 billion to $4.3 billion for the H1 period.
This resulted in W. R. Berkley reported a combined ratio of 89.7%, or 87.5% when excluding the 2.2 loss ratio points due to catastrophe losses.
Return on equity for Q2 was recorded at 15.0%, and average rate increases excluding workers’ compensation were approximately 9.7%.
“Rate increases continued to outpace loss costs, further solidifying our current rate adequacy,” W. R. Berkley commented. “As more products achieved or exceeded our target rate levels, our attention turned to exposure growth and business expansion. We expect this growth and rate achievement will contribute to additional underwriting profits as they are fully earned.”
“Our alternative investment portfolio also delivered strong performance, driven by investment funds and approximately $39 million of realized investment gains,” it continued.
“The combination of rate adequacy and an improving economy have created opportunities for profitable growth for the property casualty insurance market. Our structure, operating model and specialty product focus distinctly position us to outperform in such circumstances. We anticipate that these economic and market trends will continue to yield positive results for our Company for the foreseeable future.”
