Everest Group NYSE: EG reported first-quarter 2026 results that management framed as an early confirmation of the company’s new segment structure and strategic shift toward a “more focused, more profitable, more capital-efficient” platform.
President and CEO Jim Williamson said both core businesses generated “meaningful underwriting income,” while investment income remained “a durable earnings engine” and capital return accelerated. “There is more work to do,” Williamson added, pointing to a more competitive market backdrop and ongoing U.S. legal and loss trend uncertainty.
Quarterly results and catastrophe losses
Williamson said group operating income was $648 million, translating to a net operating return on equity of 16.7% and an annualized total shareholder return of 16.1%. CFO Mark Kociancic said operating earnings per share were $16.08, driven by underwriting income of $316 million and net investment income of $567 million, with net income of $653 million.
The company reported a 91.2% combined ratio, including $130 million of pre-tax catastrophe losses (net of recoveries and reinstatement premium). Williamson said catastrophe losses included a $58 million provision related to the conflict in Iran. Excluding the Legacy Segment, the combined ratio was 89.3%, he said.
Kociancic said favorable prior-year development totaled $33 million, primarily from “well-seasoned property reserves” in the reinsurance treaty segment, benefiting the combined ratio by about 90 basis points. He also said the group attritional loss ratio improved 2.8 points to 59.4%, noting that aviation losses added roughly 2 points to the prior-year quarter’s attritional loss ratio.
Gross written premium was $3.6 billion, down 18% year over year, which Williamson attributed largely to the completed exit from commercial retail insurance and continued runoff of legacy U.S. casualty exposures. Excluding divestitures and deliberate runoff, he said underlying premium declined 6.4% as Everest prioritized profitability and shareholder returns over top-line growth.
Reinsurance: casualty discipline and property cat pricing
Everest’s treaty reinsurance business produced what Williamson described as an “excellent quarter,” generating $315 million of underwriting income on an 87.2% combined ratio. Gross written premium in treaty reinsurance was $2.7 billion, down 8.9% year over year, driven by casualty discipline and selective reductions in business that did not meet return hurdles.
Since January 2024, Everest has reduced casualty premium by more than $1.2 billion, Williamson said, while “re-rotating” the portfolio toward short-tail and specialty lines. Kociancic detailed that reinsurance treaty premiums declined 8.5% in constant dollars, with property growth of 1% (excluding reinstatement premiums) driven by a 9.4% increase in property cat XOL, more than offset by a 23.9% decrease in casualty pro rata and 13.3% in casualty XOL.
On the April 1 renewal, Williamson said property catastrophe pricing continued to soften, with rates down 13% globally on Everest’s book. He added that “terms and conditions held, attachment points held, and structural discipline remained intact,” and that Everest’s lead market position allowed it to “shape signings towards the most attractive deals.” Bound premium at April 1 decreased 14.6% versus expiring business, while expected returns remained above thresholds, he said.
Looking ahead to mid-year renewals, Williamson said competitive conditions are expected to continue, and Florida renewals will be shaped by strong demand and visible benefits from tort reforms. In response to analyst questions, he said Everest is “reasonably optimistic” on Florida placements so far and expects capacity deployment to be “pretty consistent” if rates move reasonably. He also said early indications suggest Florida rates could come off “maybe in the mid-teens zone,” while emphasizing the peak-zone nature of the risk and Everest’s use of non-concurrent terms in “north of 80%” of its Florida deals.
On casualty reinsurance, Williamson said Everest intends to continue partnering with select cedents with strong underwriting and claims capabilities, but that a significant reversal in casualty premium reductions would require lower ceding commissions and some normalization in the U.S. legal environment.
Global Wholesale and Specialty: early progress in the reset
In its first quarter reporting under the new Global Wholesale and Specialty segment, Everest posted a 96.8% combined ratio on $793 million of gross written premium, generating $23 million of underwriting income, Williamson said. Premiums were up modestly year over year, driven by growth in specialty lines and accident and health, partly offset by reduced U.S. casualty, especially in facultative business.
Williamson highlighted improving attritional performance, with the segment’s attritional loss ratio improving 3.8 points to 58.9, which he said was achieved through mix shifts into higher-margin lines and underwriting improvements. Kociancic said the segment’s results included 4.2 points of catastrophe losses, largely driven by the Iran war provision and U.S. winter storm activity.
Asked whether any one-off items impacted the segment’s margin profile, Williamson said there were “really no one-offs” and emphasized portfolio positioning and underwriting quality, while also signaling continued prudence in loss picks. He said expense ratio “drag” is expected to improve over time as the business scales, though Kociancic noted the segment’s 12.6% underwriting-related expense ratio reflected reduced casualty earned premium and mix impacts.
Williamson also told analysts he felt “exceptionally good” about underwriting talent across the organization, describing selective hiring as “augmentation as opposed to needing to rebuild teams,” while also pointing to increased technology investment enabled by the retail divestiture.
Reserves, investments, and capital return
On reserves, Williamson said the overall reserve position “remains robust,” especially in reinsurance, and that there were “no material movements” in U.S. casualty following comprehensive actions taken in 2025. Kociancic said Everest will remain prudent in casualty due to loss trend uncertainty, while indicating property reserves are well seasoned and have “a really nice embedded margin” available for potential releases going forward.
Williamson also addressed the Baltimore Bridge loss, saying Everest initially booked a $70 million reserve when the event occurred. Based on early indications tied to evolving settlements, he said Everest could ultimately need “a few tens of millions of dollars” of incremental reserve, which would appear as prior-year development in a future quarter.
Net investment income increased to $567 million, driven largely by alternative asset returns of $156 million versus $55 million in the prior-year quarter, Kociancic said. He added that book yield remained stable at 4.5%, asset duration was about 3.5 years, and the fixed income portfolio carried an average credit rating of AA-. Kociancic also said Everest had private credit exposure of roughly 7% of assets under management and that the portfolio was performing well, with no meaningful impairments or watchlist issues. He said the company is “not adding to it,” but remains comfortable with current exposure.
On capital management, Williamson said Everest repurchased $331 million of shares during the quarter at an average price of $330, plus an additional $100 million in April. He also said the company is raising the quarterly repurchase floor to $300 million from $200 million, “absent major external dislocation,” reflecting management’s view that the share price does not reflect Everest’s earnings power. Kociancic told analysts he expects a more programmatic repurchase approach throughout the year, with potential augmentation later depending on catastrophe season outcomes and capital release from legacy runoff.
Kociancic said the company recorded an $81 million net expense in “other income and expense” associated with the sale of commercial retail insurance renewal rights to AIG and other primary operations, principally Canada. He reiterated an expectation for approximately $150 million of restructuring charges throughout 2026 tied to exiting the commercial retail insurance business, along with potentially elevated real estate-related costs in the fourth quarter that the company expects to mitigate through subleasing.
Everest ended the quarter with shareholders’ equity of $15.3 billion, or $15.7 billion excluding $369 million of net unrealized depreciation on unavailable-for-sale fixed income securities, Kociancic said. Book value per share excluding that unrealized depreciation was $393.02, up 4% from year-end 2025 when adjusted for dividends.
Management also noted a leadership transition: Williamson thanked Kociancic for his service and said the CFO is retiring after five years in the role. Kociancic said it was his last earnings call with the company and expressed confidence that Everest is positioned to deliver attractive results.
About Everest Group NYSE: EG
Everest Group NYSE: EG is a global research and consulting firm specializing in strategic advisory, market intelligence, and data-driven analysis for business process, information technology, and emerging technology services. The company provides insights and benchmarks that help enterprises and service providers optimize digital transformation initiatives, sourcing strategies, and operational performance. Through its proprietary research frameworks and data analytics, Everest Group delivers actionable guidance on areas such as automation, cloud migration, customer experience, and supply chain resilience.
With offerings that span advisory engagements, managed services research, and consulting projects, Everest Group serves multiple industry verticals, including banking and financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, and retail.
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