Scor S.E. on Thursday reported net income of €292 million ($340.7 million) for the first half of 2017, a 6.2% increase over the year-ago period.
Gross written premiums increased 11.7% to €7.52 billion ($8.77 billion) in the half, bolstered by solid performance from both the property/casualty and life divisions, the Paris-based reinsurer said in a statement.
Property/casualty saw “successful” renewals in January, April and June, while life saw good performance in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions, Scor said in the statement.
Scor reported a first-half combined ratio of 93.5% across its property/casualty operations, compared with 93.8% in the year-ago period. First-half property/casualty gross written premiums reached €3.12 billion ($3.64 billion), up 11.4% from the first half of 2016.
Profitability was driven by low natural catastrophe losses in the first half, Scor said, with storm and fire in South Africa, Tropical Cyclone Debbie and an earthquake in Australia as the main events.
“Scor delivers strong results in the first six months of 2017, outperforming both its profitability and solvency targets from the ‘Vision in Action’ plan,” Scor Chairman and CEO Denis Kessler said in the statement. “At the same time, the Group continues to expand its footprint in targeted territories and business lines.”
French reinsurer Scor S.E. has issued a three-year contingent capital facility that will provide it with €300 million ($316 million) of cover against losses from natural catastrophe and extreme mortality events, Artemis.bm reports. The cover enables Scor to diversify its sources of retrocessional capital. "This facility protects Scor's solvency, at a very low cost for our shareholders, against events such as a global pandemic or a natural catastrophe of historic proportions," said Denis Kessler, chairman of Scor.