FM Global, one of the globe's leading business-property insurers, reports that its net income for 2012 was $774 million—and that the mutual posted a profitable combined ratio of 85.7 percent, despite the impact of Superstorm Sandy—the insurer's single largest net aggregate natural disaster loss to date, which resulted in approximately 2,200 claims.

The Johnston, R.I.-based company ended 2012 with US$5.5 billion of consolidated gross premium in force, an increase of 8.6 percent. Additionally, policyholder surplus grew 14.9 percent to US$7.9 billion.

"FM Global's financial capacity enabled us to absorb the losses we incurred from one of the costliest natural disasters in our company's 178-year history with manageable impact to our bottom line," said Shivan S. Subramaniam, chairman and CEO, in a statement. "Likewise, our engineering expertise and superior claims-handling helped minimize those losses further. Such outstanding results reinforce the strength of our mutual business model, our balance sheet and our unique focus and effectiveness to ensure our clients' business resilience."