Bermuda domiciled financial services holding company White Mountains Insurance Group has reported an almost 200% increase in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020.
The company recorded total revenue of $520.8 million in Q4 2020, up from $175.3 million for the same period in the previous year.
Looking at the full year, White Mountains’ 2020 revenue came to $1.18 billion, versus $893.4 million in 2019.
During Q4, White Mountains announced plans acquire a majority stake in Ark Insurance Holdings Ltd, the parent company of Ark Syndicate Management Limited.
The company has now confirmed that this investment closed on January 1, 2021, with CEO Manning Rountree attesting that Ark had “hit the ground running.”
Ark reportedly had a “good January renewal season” and its gross written premium is expected to be in excess of $270 million.
White Mountains pre-funded/placed in escrow a total of $646 million in preparation for closing the Ark transaction, which is reflected on the Q4 balance sheet.
“We had a strong fourth quarter to cap off an outstanding year,” Rountree commented. “MediaAlpha completed a successful IPO, and investors drove its value higher during the quarter. BAM wrote $38 million of total premiums and member surplus contributions in the quarter, capping off a record year. NSM completed a solid year, with 3% quarter over quarter growth in pro forma controlled premiums and 8% quarter over quarter growth in pro forma adjusted EBITDA.”
He continued: “Kudu had a strong finish to the year, benefiting from the move higher in investment markets while closing three transactions in the quarter. Our investment portfolio (excluding MediaAlpha) returned 1.7% in the quarter. Our capital base is, for the time being, more or less fully deployed.”
White Mountains’ comprehensive income was $495 million and $716 million in the fourth quarter and full-year 2020 periods, compared to $65 million and $413 million in the previous year.
Results for Q4 and 2020 as a whole included $391 million and $746 million of net investment income and realized and unrealized investment gains from White Mountains’s investment in MediaAlpha, as well as $131 million from the release of a deferred tax liability as a result of an internal reorganization in connection with the MediaAlpha IPO.
They also included $33 million and $256 million of net investment income, realized gains and unrealized investment gains from White Mountains’s investment in MediaAlpha, $182 million of which was from MediaAlpha’s sale of a significant minority stake to Insignia Capital Group on February 26, 2019.
