Book value per share up 13.9%
Bermudian (re)insurance group Aspen Insurance Holdings made a profit after tax of $312.7m for the full year of 2010, down 34% on the $473.9m profit it made in 2009.
Profit for the fourth quarter alone also slumped, dipping to $92.7m in 2010 from $126.3m in 2009.
Despite the decline in profit. Aspen chief executive Chris O'Kane hailed the company's growth in book value per share (BVPS). "I am very pleased to report that we grew BVPS by 13.9% in 2010 and 1.8% in Q4 against a backdrop of continued low interest rates and a challenging underwriting environment," he said in a statement.
Aspen's overall combined ratio for the full year of 2010 jumped to 96.7% from 84.1% in 2009. Return on equity slumped to 11.2% from 18.4%.
Reserve releases also dwindled at Aspen. The company released $21.4m of prior-year reserves in 2010 compared with 84.4m in 2009.
Aspen expects gross written premium for 2011 to be $2.1bn and the combined ratio to be in the range of 93%-98%. This includes a catastrophe load of $170m, assuming normal loss experience in the year.
The company expects the effective tax rate in 2011 to be in the range of 8% to 12%.
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