XL: ‘View Results In Broader Context’
Headquartered in Ireland with executive offices in Bermuda, XL Group plc yesterday reported its fourth quarter and full year results from 2011 — a year marked by a costly series of natural disasters for the global insurer and reinsurer.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Chief Executive Officer Mike McGavick [pictured] said: “XL was clearly impacted in 2011, like companies throughout the property and casualty industry, by a year that suffered from one of the largest aggregate worldwide catastrophe losses in history, including, most recently, the devastating Thailand floods.
“While we believe XL’s catastrophe loss profile, relative to our peers, showed the effectiveness of our risk management process, we also again experienced an unacceptable level of non-catastrophe insurance losses in isolated underwriting areas. We have added new leaders and talented teams to these areas, and are sharply focused on delivering improved results.
“We will not shy away from our 2011 results, including a frustrating fourth quarter and full year 2011, and a significant non-cash charge to eliminate the Insurance segment’s goodwill reflecting continuing low book value per share, fully diluted valuations in our sector. But, we do want to ensure our results are viewed within the broader perspective of our goals and strategy.”
Mr. McGavick said in 2011 XL made significant progress executing its strategy and –- although not all actions have yet taken hold in terms of XL’s financial performance — the company is confident in the path it is on. He added that XL’s reinsurance segment again contributed strong results amid improving pricing.
“Key insurance businesses such as our Professional and Specialty businesses continued their multi-year track records of excellence,” he said. “We pursued deliberate, careful growth opportunities in China and Brazil and significantly strengthened our distribution approach,” said the XL CEO. “Our investment portfolio now closely reflects our P&C core, and we further reduced our life portfolio’s exposure to turbulence in the European investment markets.
“We believe XL is well-positioned with operating and capital strength and we look forward to fulfilling our vision for XL and its shareholders.”
The full 15-page release is below, click ‘Fullscreen’ for greater clarity:
