Bermudian-based PartnerRe is bouncing back, with net income attributable to common shareholders of nearly $783 million for the six months to June 30, after a more than billion dollar loss in the comparative period last year.

The $1.78 billion improvement included an annualised return on equity of 23.9 per cent.

The Bermuda reinsurer also reported operating income of $636 million and an annualised operating income return on equity of 19.5 per cent, a 4.1 per cent improvement.

Net premiums earned grew by 10 per cent, reflecting 6 per cent growth in property and casualty, 7 per cent growth in speciality and 21 per cent growth in life and health.

There was also a net investment return of $481 million including unrealised gains on fixed maturities and short-term investment of $107 million and an improvement in net investment income of 57 per cent.

PartnerRe president and chief executive officer Jacques Bonneau said: “Favourable market conditions persist half way through 2023 and we remain focused on our disciplined approach to capitalising on these opportunities and making a meaningful contribution to the Covéa group.”

The French mutual insurer Covéa completed the acquisition of PartnerRe from EXOR, the Agnelli family owned investment and holding company, for a total cash consideration of $9.3 billion a year ago in July.

Mr Bonneau said PartnerRe’s operating income of $636 million for the first half of 2023 continued its growth trend, up 24 per cent compared with the first half of last year.

He said the fundamentals across operating segments were strong.

“For the non-life business we saw an improvement in current underwriting year performance for both the property and casualty and specialty segments as compared to the first half of 2022, though the non-life combined ratio increased marginally by 1.6 points, as the first half of 2022 benefited from favourable prior year reserve development.”

He said the contribution from the life and health business continued to be a positive source of earnings to the group as premium volume grew.

“Our investment portfolio also performed well, demonstrated by 57 per cent growth in net investment income compared to the first half of 2022,” he said. “We expect this trend to continue as we deploy our increasing cash flows from operations at attractive reinvestment rates.”

In the third quarter of last year, Partner Re experienced a non-life underwriting loss of $100 million on the back of losses related to Hurricane Ian of $300 million, and unrealised losses on fixed maturities and short-term investments of $499 million.

The first half of this year has been quiet in terms of catastrophic events, with disasters such as hurricanes, tending to arrive during the second half of the year.