Arundo Re grows top line 15% in 2024, combined ratio improves to 94.7%

By Ryan Hewlett

April 4 - (The Insurer) - Paris-based reinsurer Arundo Re, the rebranded CCR Re, grew its top line by 15% and trimmed almost 2 percentage points off its combined ratio in 2024 as it continued to expand its domestic and international market share.

In a results statement on Thursday, the company reported gross written premiums of 1.36 billion euros ($1.5 billion) for 2024, up 15% on 2023, or 12% higher at constant exchange rates.

Aundo Re said the growth was broadly in line with recent years and driven by its non-life and specialty portfolio in all geographic regions.

The reinsurer generated earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation of 109 million euros, up almost 24% year on year, and net income of 64 million euros, up 14.2% on 2023.

Arundo Re, which in July 2023 completed its breakaway from state-backed Caisse Centrale de Réassurance, reported a combined ratio 94.7% in 2024, an improvement of 1.9 points from the 96.6% reported a year earlier.

The company said it recorded an “exceptional” accumulation of large loss events in Canada including wildfires, hailstorms, flooding and a cyclone, along with a high frequency of medium-sized claims directly linked to climate change.

Arundo Re’s cost ratio in 2024 remained stable versus 2023, at 4.3%.

The accounting yield on Arundo Re's assets stood at 2.6%, thanks to a buoyant interest rate environment and unrealised capital gains environment reaching 20 million euros on total assets of 3.82 billion euros at market value.

Arundo Re's solvency ratio on December 31, 2024 stood at 211%.

The annual results are the first to be published after CCR Re formally rebranded to Arundo Re in January.

The name change was first unveiled in September last year and took effect from January 16, marking a new chapter in the reinsurer’s transformation, which began in 2016 and continued with the arrival of two new majority shareholders.

CCR Re was acquired by a consortium of mutual insurers made up of SMABTP and MACSF in a deal first announced in February 2023. As previously reported, the deal closed in July 2023 and valued CCR Re at close to 1 billion euros.

Arundo Re is now present in 103 countries worldwide, operating across property and casualty, life and health, and certain specialty lines including credit, marine, aviation, space and agriculture.

CEO Bertrand Labilloy said: “In 2024, Arundo Re maintained its profitable growth trajectory despite the rising cost of natural catastrophes. These results continue to demonstrate the relevance of our strategy: the solidity of our balance sheet continues to strengthen, and this gives us an attractive degree of flexibility in this ever-changing environment.”