Fairfax Financial has reported net earnings attributable to shareholders of $1.15bn for the fourth quarter of 2024 (Q4 2024), a 14.7% decrease from $1.32bn in Q4 2023.
Net earnings per diluted share dropped to $50.42 in Q4 2024 from $52.87 the prior year.
The company’s operating income for property and casualty (P&C) insurance and reinsurance increased to $2bn in the three-month-period ended 31 December 2024, up from $1.47bn in the same period the previous year.
Underwriting profit rose to $658.3m in Q4 2024 compared with $579.3m in the year-ago quarter, while net premiums written increased from $5.2bn to $5.9bn.
For the full-year, the company logged net earnings of $4.2bn for 2024, down by 19% from $5bn in 2023.
Full-year net earnings per diluted share decreased to $160.56 in 2024 from $173.24 in 2023.
The operating income for P&C insurance and reinsurance for the full year was $6.5bn in 2024, an increase from $5.7bn in 2023.
The company’s chairman and CEO, Prem Watsa, attributed this growth to “strong underwriting performance and interest and dividends, and continued favourable results from share of profit of associates”.
Underwriting profit for the full year stood at $1.8bn in 2024, up from $1.5bn in 2023, reflecting growth in business volumes and higher net favourable prior year reserve development.
Net premiums written by the P&C insurance and reinsurance operations increased by 11.6% to a record $25.3bn, with gross premiums written up by 12.6%.
This growth was primarily due to the consolidation of Gulf Insurance on 26 December 2023, which contributed $1.6bn to net premiums written and $2.7bn to gross premiums written in 2024, and continued growth across most operating companies.
On 23 January 2025, Fairfax Financial sold 80 million shares, approximately a 2.2% equity interest, in Eurobank for gross proceeds of $190.8m (€183.5m), received by the holding company.
This sale reduced the company’s equity interest to 32.3% and will result in the recognition of a realised gain of approximately $40m in the consolidated statement of earnings in Q1 2025.
Additionally, on 13 December 2024, the company increased its ownership interest in Brit from 86.2% to 100% by purchasing the remaining shares from Brit’s minority shareholder.
Of the total gross premiums written, the Global Insurers and Reinsurers segment accounted for $17.15bn, with Brit contributing $3.76bn.
Watsa said: “During the year we purchased 1,346,953 subordinate voting shares for cancellation for cash consideration of approximately $1.6bn, or $1,179 per share.
“We remain focused on being soundly financed and ended 2024 in a strong financial position with $2.5bn in cash, marketable securities and investments in the holding company, and an additional $2bn, at fair value, of investments in associates and consolidated non-insurance companies owned by the holding company.”
Earlier this year, Lloyd’s syndicate Ki transitioned into a stand-alone entity within Fairfax Group after completing its separation from its parent company.
