Everest Group swings to quarterly loss on one-time charge

(Reuters) — Reinsurer Everest Group Monday posted a fourth-quarter loss, hit by a one-time charge tied to loss reserves in its U.S. casualty lines business.

The company last week disclosed that its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings will include a one-time charge of $1.5 billion tied to prior year’s loss reserves and a further $229 million of current accident year strengthening.

Everest also expects its pretax net catastrophe loss from California wildfires to be in the range of $350 million to $450 million for the first quarter.

Bermuda-based Everest offers property/casualty and specialty reinsurance and insurance services and operates in more than 100 countries across six continents.

The company said gross written premiums in its reinsurance business rose 12.6% to about $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter. Its net investment income increased to $473 million from $411 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, driven by a larger asset base as well as strong core fixed-income investment returns.

Everest’s net operating loss came in at $780 million, or $18.39 per diluted share, compared with net operating income of $1.1 billion, or $25.18 per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.