Q3 profits more than double, net premiums written down slightly for PartnerRe

PartnerRe Ltd. announced Oct. 31 its financial results for the period ending Sept. 30, recording a 3% year-over-year decrease in net premiums written for the third quarter, and a 170% increase in net income.

The Pembroke, Bermuda based firm, whose reinsurance services include property, casualty, motor, agriculture, aviation, catastrophe and marine, has a Canadian operation with offices in Toronto and Montreal.

Worldwide, its net premiums written for the third quarter dropped from $1.080 billion in 2011 to $1.043 billion this year, though the figure actually increased 1% on a “constant foreign exchange basis,” PartnerRe stated in press release. All figures are in U.S. currency.

For the first nine months of 2012, PartnerRe recorded net premiums written of $3.653 billion and net premiums earned of $3.318 billion, up from net premiums written and earned of $3.603 billion and $3.466 billion respectively during the first nine months of 2011.

The difference between net premiums written and earned is the decrease in unearned premiums.

In the catastrophe sub-segment, net premiums written and earned in the third quarter changed, from $89 million and $199 million respectively in 2011 to $69 and $168 million respectively in 2012. PartnerRe attributed the decrease in net premiums written for catastrophe to “reductions in certain exposures and differences in the timing of renewals ….”

For the first nine months in the catastrophe segment, net premiums written and earned dropped, from $542 million and $432 million respectively in 2011 to $429 million and $331 million respectively in 2012.

PartnerRe recorded net premiums written and earned of $311 million and $335 million respectively for North America during the latest quarter, compared to $287 million written and $329 million earned during the third quarter of 2011.

Net premiums written and earned in North America during the first nine months were $922 and $863 million respectively this year, up from $868 million written and $850 million earned in 2011.

“For the third quarter, the North America sub-segment’s net premiums written were up 8%, or 9% on a constant foreign exchange basis, primarily due to a higher level of positive prior year premium estimate adjustments in the casualty line and new business in the property line, which were partially offset by a lower level of agricultural premiums,” PartnerRe stated.

Net premiums written in the global (non-U.S.) property and casualty segment were $122 million in the third quarter of 2012, down from $144 million in 2011. For the first nine months, the figure was $596 million this year and $581 million in 2011.

Net income for the quarter ending Sept. 30 was $486.7 million, up from $180.1 million in 2011. PartnerRe lost $502.6 million during the first nine months of 2011 and recorded net earnings of $1.023 billion during the same period this year.

“We had an excellent third quarter, generating an operating return on equity of 18%, driven by strong underwriting results and below average large loss experience,” PartnerRe president and CEO Costas Miranthis stated in a press release.