Scor profit up on risk diversification, lower cat losses

Scor S.E. posted net income of €327.0 million ($359.2 million) for the first half of 2015, a 27.7% increase over the first half of 2014, the Paris-based reinsurer said Wednesday.

Gross written premiums were €6.49 billion ($7.13 billion), Scor said, up 19.6% from the first half of 2014.

Scor Global P&C, the reinsurer's property/casualty unit, posted a combined ratio of 90.9% for the first six months of 2015, the same as recorded in the comparable period last year.

The company said in a statement that its results had been helped, in part, by a relatively low level of natural catastrophe losses in the first half of the year.

Scor Global P&C posted gross written premiums of €2.86 billion ($3.14 billion) for the first half of 2015, a 19.2% increase over the first half of 2014.

Net investment income was €365 million ($401.0 million) for the first six months of 2015 compared with €281 million ($308.7 million) for the first six months of 2014, Scor said.

Denis Kessler, chairman and CEO of Scor, said on a conference call the reinsurer had been able to continue to deploy its strategy of diversification of risks.

He said Scor's global presence had been enhanced during the first half of the year with the opening of a branch in India and a representative office in Kenya.