Global specialty insurance company Octave Specialty Group, Inc. (Octave) (formerly known as Ambac Financial Group, Inc.) reported that Everspan’s gross and net premiums increased 34% and 978%, respectively, to $80 million and $23 million in the fourth quarter of 2025.
In comparison, Everspan’s gross premiums and net premiums were approximately $60 million and $2.6 million, respectively, in 4Q25. Despite the increase, Everspan’s combined ratio rose to 99.4% in the quarter from 96.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by a higher loss ratio of 61.8%.
Everspan, the company’s specialty property and casualty (P&C) insurance arm, reported a 7% decline in total revenue to $23.0 million in Q4 2025, compared with total revenue of $24.8 million in Q4 2024.
Net income also fell 37% to $1.0 million, compared with $1.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Finally, adjusted EBITDA fell 46% to $1.5 million, compared with $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
However, Octave reiterated that total property and casualty insurance premiums increased 15% in the quarter to $303 million.
For the insurance distribution segment, Octave paid $223 million in premiums, an increase of 9% from $205 million in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The segment reported a 5% increase in total revenue to $46.5 million in Q4 2025, compared with total revenue of $44.0 million in Q4 2024. Overall, organic revenue grew 8.1% in the quarter.
Net income for the segment increased 77% to -$1.1 million, compared with net income of -$4.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, net loss to shareholders for the quarter was -$1 million, an improvement of 76% compared to -$6 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In 4Q25, shareholder adjusted EBITDA was US$7 million, an increase of 33% from US$5.3 million in 4Q24. Finally, commission revenue increased to $37 million, an increase of 13%
Overall, Octave’s total revenue from continuing operations was $67 million in 4Q25, an increase of 3% compared to $65 million in 4Q24, driven by the Insurance Distribution segment and Enterprise business, which more than offset declines in Specialty P&C segment revenue.
Shareholder net loss from continuing operations increased $8 million to $30 million in the quarter, compared with $22 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The increase was primarily attributable to costs associated with the ArmadaCare acquisition, charges for exiting the financial guarantee business, related expense reduction initiatives and impairment of minority investments in legacy strategies.
Finally, Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $1.4 million, compared to $0.05 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, driven by an increase in insurance distribution Adjusted EBITDA of $1.7 million, partially offset by a decrease in Everspan Adjusted EBITDA of $1.2 million, primarily related to lower Everspan revenue. Octave explained that Adjusted EBITDA also benefited from a $0.4 million improvement in the Corporate segment related to the initial benefits of our corporate expense reduction program.
During October 2025, Octave repurchased more than 3.1 million shares of its outstanding common stock through its 10B5-1 plan, equivalent to 6.7% of the last reported shares outstanding and 6.5% of the underlying weighted shares outstanding.
“The fourth quarter of 2025 marks the end of a transformational year and the beginning of a new era for our company,” said Claude LeBlanc, president and CEO of Octave. “Following the sale of our legacy financial guarantee business in the third quarter, the acquisition of ArmadaCare in the fourth quarter, and our rebranding as Octave Specialty Group, we become a pure-play specialty casualty insurance company.
“Our insurance distribution business achieved organic growth of more than 8% in the fourth quarter and just over 14% for the full year as we continue to execute on our strategy of building a high-growth specialty insurance distribution platform that delivers significant long-term value to our shareholders. Our recent acquisition of ArmadaCare, a leading specialty A&H and workplace benefits MGA platform, significantly enhances our strategic position by further diversifying our specialty business model into unrelated high-growth market segments.”
He continued: “During the fourth quarter, we also launched 1889 Specialty, a managed liability and specialty line MGA focused on the small and medium-sized enterprise market and supported by A+ capacity. We expect these investments, our expanded and further diversified MGA/U portfolio, and our recent enterprise cost reduction actions to significantly advance our long-term growth strategy.”
“This is truly an exciting time for us. We believe that our partnership structure and unique MGA incubator model, including aligned capabilities and shared technical and commercial services, will continue to differentiate us in the market. Going into 2026, we expect to achieve strong organic growth, driven by continued momentum in our core business, including 2024 and 2025 A stable of strong start-ups launched in 2017, which will deliver strong revenue and profit growth as these businesses continue to scale.”