W. R. Berkley published its third-quarter 2026 results on 19 October. Net income to common stockholders fell to $446.0m, or $1.14 per diluted share, from $511.0m, or $1.28, a year earlier. Operating income was $456.5m, up 6.4% on a per-share basis to $1.17. Return on equity was 18.4%.
Underwriting margins held steady. The reported combined ratio was 90.8%, against 90.9% a year earlier. The current accident year combined ratio before catastrophe losses was 88.1%; catastrophe losses added 2.7 points, or $85.9m, compared with $78.5m in the third quarter of 2025. The Insurance segment's combined ratio improved to 91.7% from 92.3%, while the Reinsurance & Monoline Excess ratio rose to 83.4% from 81.1%.
Growth differed between and within the segments. Consolidated net premiums written rose to $3.27bn from $3.23bn, and the Insurance segment grew gross premiums written 4.9% and net premiums written 3.2%. Net premiums written in Reinsurance & Monoline Excess fell to $368.6m from $417.2m. The fall came from reinsurance: casualty reinsurance dropped to $144.2m from $192.7m and property reinsurance to $117.0m from $119.7m, while monoline excess rose to $107.4m from $104.8m. The release gives no reason for the change.
Net investment income grew to $383.5m. Income from the core portfolio rose 12.0%, to $369.1m from $329.5m. Book value per share was $25.87 at 30 September.
The release puts average rate increases excluding workers' compensation at about 4.0%. Chief executive W. Robert Berkley, Jr. said the cycles of different product lines "have decoupled" and that the group's 60 specialty businesses give it more stability. The company has returned $728.6m to shareholders this year, including $435.1m of share repurchases.
Read the source
W. R. Berkley Corporation ↗Company · 19 Oct 2026
This is an original brief based on the linked publication. Company statements and forecasts are attributed to their source.
