White Mountains has released the Q1 2025 results for its property and casualty re/insurance segment Ark/WM Outrigger, revealing gross written premiums of $1,108 million, net written premiums of $728 million and net earned premiums of $358 million, all improvements compared to the same period of last year.
The Ark/WM Outrigger segment’s combined ratio was 97% in Q1 2025 compared to 91% in Q1 2024.
Ark’s combined ratio was reportedly 94% in Q1 2025, the same as in 2024. White Mountains observed that Ark’s combined ratio included 25 points of catastrophe losses in Q1 2025, driven by losses related to the January 2025 California wildfires of $75 million on a net basis after reinsurance and reinstatement premiums, compared to minimal catastrophe losses in Q1 2024.
Meanwhile, WM Outrigger Re’s combined ratio was 166% in Q1 2025 compared to 32% in Q1 2024.
“Catastrophe losses in 2025 included $19 million net of reinstatement premiums related to the California wildfires, while major catastrophe losses in 2024 were minimal,” the firm explained.
Ark reported pre-tax income of $52 million in Q1 2025 compared to $33 million in Q1 2024, while WM Outrigger Re reported a pre-tax loss of $6 million in Q1 2025.
Manning Rountree, CEO of White Mountains, commented, “Book value per share ended the quarter at $1,752, up slightly. We had solid operating results and good investment returns, partially offset by the share price decline at MediaAlpha.
“Ark posted a 94% combined ratio and wrote $1.1 billion of gross written premiums, up 27% year-over-year.
“HG Global generated $7 million of gross written premiums and grew equity by 3% in the quarter. At Kudu, trailing 12 months EBITDA increased, and the fair value of the portfolio grew 4% on a same store basis.
“Bamboo delivered another great quarter, doubling managed premiums on a trailing 12 months basis and tripling MGA adjusted EBITDA year-over-year, while also successfully renewing its largest reinsurance program.
“MediaAlpha’s share price declined 18% in the quarter, producing a $37 million mark-to-market loss.
“Excluding MediaAlpha, the investment portfolio returned 2.3%, with gains in both equities and fixed income.
“In April, we made new capital deployments into BroadStreet Partners and Enterprise Solutions, our first acquisition at WTM Partners.
“Including these deployments and expected operating company distributions, undeployed capital now stands at roughly $550 million.”
