Insurer ACE Ltd. (ACE) said on Tuesday that its fourth quarter profit surged from last year helped by net realized gains. Net premiums written increased 8%, while net premiums earned rose 5% for the fourth quarter.
The Zurich, Switzerland-based company posted fourth quarter net income available to holders of common shares of $953 million or $2.81 per share, compared to $20 million or $0.06 per share in the same period last year.
Net realized gains for the quarter was $373 million, compared to losses of $644 million in the previous year quarter.
Income excluding net realized gains for the quarter were $683 million or $2.01 per share, compared to $624 million or $1.86 per share in the comparable period last year.
On average, twenty analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.93 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Gross premiums written for the quarter was $4.51 billion, up from $4.32 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
Quarterly net premiums written increased 8% to $3.31 billion from $3.05 billion in the preceding year period. Net premiums earned was $3.39 billion, up 5% from $3.23 billion in the previous year quarter. Analysts expected the company to report revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter.
Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, net premiums written and earned increased 4% and 1%, respectively.
Underwriting income rose to $373 million from $349 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Net investment income decreased 2% to $512 million.
Book value increased $934 million during the quarter, up 5% sequentially. Book value per share now stands at $58.44. Annualized return on average equity for the quarter was 14.2%. The property and casualty (P&C) combined ratio was 89.6%, compared with 86.9% in the previous year quarter.
Insurance-North American net premiums written increased 9%, with combined ratio of 89.5%, up from 83.0% last year. Excluding large single transactions written in the quarter, net premiums written rose 2%.
Insurance-Overseas General net premiums written rose 8%, with combined ratio of 90.3%, down from 90.7% a year ago. Adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange, net premiums written were flat.
Global Reinsurance net premiums written increased 14%. The combined ratio was 67.1%, compared with 72.3% in the previous year quarter.
Life net premiums written increased 5%. Life underwriting income increased to $104 million from $21 million in the prior year quarter.
For the fiscal year 2009, net income available to holders of common shares were $2.55 billion or $7.55 per share, compared to $1.17 billion or $3.50 per share in last year.
Income excluding net realized gains increased to $2.76 billion or $8.17 per share from $2.59 billion or $7.67 per share in the previous year.
Gross premiums written for the year was $19.16 billion, down from $19.24 billion last year. Net premiums written increased to $13.30 billion from $13.08 billion in the preceding year. Net premiums earned was $13.24 billion, up from $13.20 billion a year ago.
Analysts estimated the company to report earnings of $8.10 per share for the year on revenues of $13.09 billion.
ACE closed Tuesday's regular trading at $49.56, up 54 cents or 1.10%, on a volume of 2.71 million shares. In after-hours, the share further gained 62 cents or 1.25% to trade at $50.18. The stock has been moving in a range of $30.92 - $55.64 for the past 52 weeks, with an average daily volume of about 2.33 million shares for the past three months.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.