At their Board Meeting held on 9th May, the Directors of Steamship Mutual approved the Clubs’ Report and Accounts for the 2016/17 policy year and authorised the release of the following key points in advance of the publication of detailed financial results.
2016/17 Financial Results
- Free reserves increased by US$70 million to US$510.3 million.
- Financial year combined ratio was 83.5% after another favourable underwriting performance.
- When compared to the preceding year, the Club experienced a similar number of claims in the layers below US$250,000 but the average cost of such claims was nearly 20% lower. The number of larger claims was even lower than was experienced last year but their average cost was similar to the average of recent policy years.
- Overall net estimated claims, including IBNR provision and after reinsurance recoveries, were US$188.6 million, 14.7% below the figure for the 2015/16 policy year at the same point.
- The combined investment portfolio recorded an overall gain of US$31.0 million before fees, a return of 2.8%, excluding US$0.7 million of adverse currency movements which are included in the underwriting result. A 2.0% return on bonds, which form the majority of the portfolio, was supplemented by a 19.3% return on equities and an 8.5% return on hedge funds of funds.
- Total cash and investments increased to US$1.06 billion.
2017 Renewal
- The Board decided that, for a third successive year, no general increase be applied at renewal. Including the projected value of higher deductibles and other changes in terms premium for owned entries fell by 1.7% on a like for like basis.
Release Calls
The Directors decided on release calls as follows:
- 2015/16: 0%
- 2016/17: 2.5%
- 2017/18: 12.5%
Tonnage
The levels of entered tonnage grew by 8.5%, 11.9 million GT at renewal, much of which came from chartered vessels. Overall entered tonnage (including chartered entries) rose to 151.3 million GT.
The Chairman of Steamship Mutual Bermuda, Mr Sven Michael Edye, commented:
“After a successful year in 2016/17 we remain in a very strong situation. Clearly we hope that a further return of capital will be possible this year as it is important that the strong financial performance of the Club directly benefits the Members.”
Gary Rynsard, Executive Chairman of Steamship Insurance Management Services Ltd, said:
“We are thankful that the 2016 policy year was a very good year for claims and this better than expected performance made a large contribution to the financial year surplus. We do not underestimate the importance of our Members' efforts in minimising operating risk, and thereby reducing claims on the Club, in the achievement of these results."
Note to Editors: Photography and comments are available upon request.
Press contact:
Jackie Callard
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