Markel Group and SiriusPoint have published their respective financial results for the second quarter and first half of 2023.

In the three months ended June 30, Markel bounced back from last year’s comprehensive loss to shareholders worth US$1.2 billion to this year’s US$564.5 million in comprehensive income to shareholders. For the half year, the turnaround was from a loss of US$1.7 billion to a positive result amounting to US$1.2 billion.

The earnings were attributed to “strong contributions from all three operating engines” within Markel.

“Insurance, investments, and Markel Ventures all contributed to solid operating results in the second quarter,” chief executive Tom Gayner said in a release. “Markel Ventures recorded strong margins and cash flows, our insurance business increased gross written premiums while maintaining our long-term discipline of profitable underwriting and conservative reserving, and investment income grew significantly amid higher interest rates.

“I am grateful to the more than 20,000 people in our family of companies who work every day to drive results like these as we continue our journey to build one of the world’s great companies.”

Also back in the black is SiriusPoint, whose net income available to SiriusPoint common shareholders in Q2 2023 stood at US$66.3 million. In the same quarter last year, the group suffered a loss of US$60.8 million. For the six-month span, the 2023 result was US$204.9 million in income – a huge jump from the US$277.8 million loss a year ago.

“This quarter has been a positive one for SiriusPoint with all three areas of our business performing well as we continue our journey to improve the performance of the company,” chief executive Scott Egan said in a release.

“Our underwriting results are strong, with a combined ratio of 84.4% for our core operations. Our investment portfolio remains focussed on high-quality fixed income instruments, and we are tracking to the top-end of our full year 2023 net investment income guidance of US$220 million to US$240 million.

“Run-rate costs have been reduced by US$35 million to US$40 million versus previous year on an underlying basis, and we are confident on our target of more than US$50 million reduction by the end of 2024. The balance sheet is even stronger now given we have closed the loss portfolio transfer deal, releasing more than US$150 million of capital and aligning our balance sheet to the go forward strategy.

According to Egan, all areas of SiriusPoint’s business are capital-generating. At the same time, the CEO said, the organisation is making “significant progress” to improve culture and employee engagement with the goal of creating a high-performing enterprise.

What do you think about this story? Share your thoughts in the comments below.