W. R. Berkley Corp. reported a 22 percent jump in second-quarter net income yesterday, with double-digit net premium growth from its specialty operations and underwriting profits in all five of it operating units driving the result.
Second-quarter net income for the Greenwich, Conn.-based firm was $134 million, or $1.01 per share, compared to $109 million, or 83 cents per share, a year ago.
While realized capital gains of investment sales dropped–to $6.1 million from $9.9 million last year–investment income (from interest and dividends) soared 36 percent to $93.6 million.
Overall net written premiums rose nearly 12 percent to $1.1 billion, with the company's biggest segment–specialty lines–reporting a 22 percent jump in premiums to $477.4 million.
W. R. Berkley Corp. is an insurance holding company operating in five segments of the property-casualty insurance business: specialty insurance, regional property casualty insurance, alternative markets, reinsurance and international.
With all five segments reporting second-quarter combined ratios under 100, and only the reinsurance and international segments coming in with a combined ratio over 95, the overall combined ratio was 89.2–0.6 points better than the 89.8 combined ratio reported for second-quarter 2004.
"We believe that while market conditions are no longer improving, our results continue to reflect the current level of adequate pricing," said William R. Berkley, chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.
Through six months, net income was $255 million, or $1.91 per share, 13.3 percent higher than net income recorded in the first-half of 2004.
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