Improved performance under its reinsurance portfolio and healthy investment returns saw Arab Insurance Group (Arig) bounce back into the black in the first nine months of the year. Arig earned a net profit of $10.3 million against a loss of $11.5 million last time, said a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. The comparatively benign current year claims experience under the company's non-life book and a corresponding combined ratio of 92.4 per cent produced net underwriting returns of $8.3 million for the nine months compared with a net loss of $7.9 million in the comparative period last year. At the same time, gross premiums written reduced by 12 per cent to $ 209.4 million, mostly as a result of decreased income from territories subject to UN sanctions or political turmoil, and clients struggling to reach their business targets within a highly price competitive market environment. Investment income of $16 million for the three quarters was sharply up against the previous year's $200,000, representing an annualised average return of 3.3 per cent on invested assets. Arig's net operating result for the third quarter of this year alone represented a profit of $6.5 million, compared with a loss of $7.4 million for the corresponding period. Shareholders' equity increased to $241.9 million while book value per share climbed to $1.22. TradeArabia News Service
