Everest Group, Ltd., a global reinsurance company headquartered in Bermuda, achieved a net profit of US$653 million in the first quarter of 2026, a year-on-year increase of more than 210%. Due to lower pre-tax net catastrophe losses, the group’s combined ratio increased by 11.6 percentage points to 91.2%.
Group-wide, Everest performed strongly in the first quarter of this year, with net operating income reaching $648 million, compared with $276 million in the first quarter of 2025.
In 1Q26, gross written premiums (GWP) fell 18% year-on-year to US$3.6 billion, while net written premiums (NWP) fell 15% to US$3.2 billion.
Pre-tax underwriting income for the entire group totaled $316 million, while pre-tax catastrophe losses (net of reinsurance and recovery premiums) fell sharply to $130 million. The company also benefited from net favorable development in prior-year loss provisions of approximately $33 million in the first quarter of 2026.
In terms of off-balance sheet assets, net investment income increased to US$567 million from US$491 million in the same period last year.
Everest’s reinsurance treaty business performed particularly strongly during the three-month period, generating $315 million in pre-tax underwriting income and a combined ratio up 17.5 percentage points to 87.2%. Pre-tax catastrophe losses were $90 million, net of expected recovery expenses and recovery premiums, driven primarily by losses related to the war in Iran and a number of medium-sized events around the world.
The reinsurance treaty segment had net favorable development of $33 million last year, which Everest attributed to “mature property reserves.”
Reinsurance treaty GWP declined 8.9% in Q1 2026 to $2.7 billion, with property catastrophe XOL increasing 9.4% and property increasing 1% proportionally, offset by a 25% decrease in property non-catastrophe XOL, a 23.9% proportional decrease in casualty XOL and a 13.3% decrease in casualty XOL after adjusting for recovery premiums. NWP fell 4.9% year-on-year to $2.4 billion.
As for the global wholesale and specialty business, pre-tax underwriting income totaled US$23 million, and the combined ratio was 96.8%, a slight deterioration from the previous year’s 95.7%. Pre-tax catastrophe losses, net of estimated recovery costs and recovery premiums, were $30 million, an increase from $23 million in the prior year.
Global Wholesale & Specialty segment GWP increased 2.9% year over year to $793 million, driven primarily by a 32.9% increase in Other Specialty and a 23.8% increase in Accident and Health, partially offset by a 9.3% decrease in Workers’ Compensation, Property/Short Tail and a 6.1% decrease in Specialty Casualty. NWP increased 5.6% to $692 million, compared with $655 million in the same period last year.
Following the announcement of the commercial retail insurance renewal rights deal, Everest’s Legacy unit, which currently covers the company’s commercial retail insurance business, saw its global policy totals fall from $686 million to $135 million due to “a limited number of renewals and new policies written by the company on documents related to the commercial retail insurance business and purchasers of the sports and leisure business during the limited period following closing.”
Net premiums of $89 million were primarily driven by commercial retail insurance business, which Everest expects to decrease slightly by the end of 2026. The segment’s underwriting loss increased to $22 million from $14 million in the year-ago period, while total losses and LAE fell to $316 million from $407 million.
Jim Williamson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Everest, commented: “Everest is off to a strong start to the year, with the strategies we have implemented to improve our return profile and capital efficiency becoming increasingly evident in our results. Strong contributions from underwriting and investment income drove annualized operating ROE of 16.7% and supported accelerated share repurchases.
“Our new structure provides greater clarity on profitability across Everest. The reinsurance treaty team continues to focus relentlessly on bottom-line results, delivering strong and disciplined execution on first renewals in January and April. Our global wholesale and specialty teams continue to tactically improve the quality of the portfolio and expand in markets where we have enduring competitive advantages, which we believe will position the business to improve profitability. Looking ahead to 2026, we are focused on executing our strategy to center underwriting discipline and accelerate capital returns.”
