RenaissanceRe has returned to profit in the first quarter, with the Bermuda group's reinsurance results showing a sharp turnaround from a year earlier, when California wildfire claims swamped the period.
Net income available to common shareholders came in at US$284.5 million, while operating income reached US$590.5 million, reversing a US$69.8 million operating loss in the same quarter of 2025.
The combined ratio improved to 73%, from 128.3% a year earlier. The prior-year reading had carried 117.2 percentage points of wildfire-related losses, the company said.
Adjusted earnings of US$13.75 per share beat the US$11.22 analyst consensus by about 22.5%, while the combined ratio came in some 1,510 basis points below estimates.
Underwriting income totaled US$588.8 million, against a loss of US$770.6 million a year earlier. Fee income reached US$94.1 million, with net investment income at US$420.5 million.
The premium picture told a different story. Gross premiums written fell 19.9% to US$3.48 billion. Revenue dropped 36.8% year on year to US$2.19 billion, missing consensus by about 21.4%.
Catastrophe class premiums dropped 23.2%, largely on the absence of US$338.4 million in reinstatement premiums tied to last year's wildfires. Stripping those out, catastrophe gross premiums slipped 3.2%.
Chief executive Kevin J. O'Donnell framed the pullback as deliberate, saying the firm had "successfully deployed additional limit into our highest margin business, property catastrophe" in a "competitive, but still attractive environment".
On its fourth-quarter 2025 call, the group had flagged property cat rates down by low-teen percentages at the January renewals.
Annualized return on average common equity came in at 10.5%, well below the 21.8% operating ROE, weighed by mark-to-market losses of US$421.9 million tied to higher Treasury yields and softer equity markets.
Book value per share rose to US$250.48, up 1.4% in the quarter and 27.7% year on year. Prior accident year reserves released US$160.7 million of favorable development, with US$62.6 million from catastrophe and US$98.1 million from other property lines.
Bermuda peers turned in uneven first-quarter results. Hamilton Insurance Group lifted revenues 27.7% year on year to US$728.3 million, while Everest Group's revenues fell 4.6% to US$4.42 billion.
In a report, Fitch Ratings said Bermuda and US re/insurer results "are expected to be pressured in 2026 by continued weakening in underlying results in the softening market environment", though all rated companies should hold on to underwriting profitability.
The agency described RenaissanceRe as "effectively a pure reinsurer", setting it apart from peers running broader books.
RenaissanceRe bought back US$352.5 million of its shares during the quarter at what O'Donnell called "an attractive premium to book value". The chief executive also flagged a repositioning of the investment portfolio, with the firm trimming gold, lifting allocations to investment-grade credit and extending duration by half a year.
