Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) executives highlighted record premiums, improved underwriting performance, and continued progress on the company’s multi-year transformation during the insurer’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, while also outlining expectations for 2026 growth and margins amid mixed market conditions.
Full-year results: book value growth, combined ratio improvement, and record premiums
CEO Vince Tizzio said 2025 capped “an outstanding year” for AXIS, citing 13 consecutive quarters of diluted book value per share growth and 77% growth over that period. For 2025, management reported an 18% year-over-year increase in diluted book value per common share to $77.20, an 18% operating return on equity, record gross written premiums of $9.6 billion (up 7%), and a full-year combined ratio of 89.8, which Tizzio said was the company’s lowest since 2010.
Insurance segment: record underwriting income and growth led by new and expanded classes
Tizzio said the insurance segment produced several all-time highs in 2025, including record gross written premiums of $7.2 billion (up 9%), record new premiums written of $2.4 billion, record underwriting income of $597 million (up 40%), and a combined ratio of 86 for the year (a three-point improvement).
Vogt reported insurance gross premiums written of $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter (up 12%) and a combined ratio of 86.5% for the quarter and 86.1% for the full year, improved from 91.2% and 89.1% in the prior-year periods. He noted that growth was broad-based across the insurance portfolio “as all classes of business grew, except for cyber.”
During Q&A, Tizzio said that in the fourth quarter, about $150 million of insurance segment growth came from the company’s “new and expanded classes.” He also reiterated that AXIS is maintaining a cautious and selective posture in cyber due to escalating ransomware risk (including the potential impact of AI) and pricing pressure from competition, adding that the company does not view cyber as a growth area “for the foreseeable future” unless risk-reward improves.
AXIS Capacity Solutions and delegated underwriting
Management discussed early progress for AXIS Capacity Solutions (ACS), which Tizzio described as a way to leverage AXIS underwriting and portfolio management expertise alongside strategic partners to develop structured portfolios using third-party capital, generating new business and underwriting fee income. Vogt said the fourth quarter was the first quarter ACS booked any gross written premiums, totaling “just around $20 million” for insurance, with very little net earned premium in the quarter because of the earning pattern.
On delegated underwriting, Tizzio said delegated business represented approximately 32% of insurance platform volume at the end of 2025, with four relationships contributing substantially: a pet program, a surety relationship, transactional liability, and the Portfolio Solutions Group in London where AXIS operates as a “Smart Follow” market. He added that delegated distribution represented 14% of volume in North America, while delegated business is more prevalent in London and Lloyd’s.
Reinsurance: continued profitability, but volume could decline in 2026
Tizzio said AXIS Re produced positive bottom-line results for eight consecutive quarters, and for 2025 reported a 92.6 combined ratio and $128 million of underwriting income on $2.5 billion of gross written premiums, described as a low single-digit increase from the prior year.
Vogt said fourth-quarter reinsurance premium growth was influenced by a “single large quota share U.K. Motor transaction” that will renew in the first quarter of 2027 and therefore will not repeat in fourth-quarter 2026. Full-year reinsurance gross premiums were up 3%, which he said better characterized the year’s trend. The reinsurance combined ratio was 93.9% in the quarter and 92.6% for the year.
Looking ahead, Vogt said the company will remain bottom-line focused if reinsurance market conditions remain challenging, and that reinsurance gross premiums “could be down in 2026, even up to double digits,” while management remains confident in expected underwriting profitability.
Expenses, catastrophe losses, reserves, investments, and capital return
On expenses, Vogt said the consolidated G&A ratio for the quarter was 13.9% versus 13.7% a year ago, primarily due to variable compensation and increased headcount in insurance. For the year, the ratio improved to 12.4% from 12.6% in 2024. In response to analyst questions, Vogt said that on a normalized basis (adjusting for variable compensation), underwriting G&A would have been 11.6% for the year and 11.2% in the quarter, and management reaffirmed its “glide path” to an 11% G&A ratio in 2026. Tizzio added that AXIS expects to begin monetizing accelerated 2025 investments in technology and operations through efficiency and productivity gains in 2026.
Catastrophe losses were $30 million in the quarter, producing a 2% cat loss ratio, driven largely by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, Vogt said. He cited a full-year cat loss ratio of 2.8% and said AXIS expects a normalized full-year cat loss ratio in the 4%–5% range.
On reserves, Vogt said AXIS recorded a $30 million reserve release in the quarter ($23 million in insurance and $7 million in reinsurance) and reiterated the company’s philosophy of looking for sustained positive signals before releasing reserves. Both Tizzio and Vogt said the reserve releases were from short-tail lines rather than long-tail lines, and Vogt noted an independent third-party actuarial firm completed a year-end reserve review that provided additional confidence. Incoming CFO Matt Kirk said he was comfortable with the reserve position after working with the reserving team during his transition.
Vogt also reported investment income of $187 million in the quarter and $767 million for the year, up 1%, and said AXIS modestly increased its investment risk appetite with below-BBB exposure at 19%, the high end of its stated 15%–20% range. The fourth-quarter effective tax rate was 14%, reflecting a $19 million non-operating benefit tied to an amendment to the Bermuda Corporate Income Tax Act; Vogt said the company expects an ongoing effective tax rate of 19%–20%.
Capital return was also a focus. Vogt said AXIS returned $139 million through dividends and $888 million through share repurchases in 2025, with $112 million remaining under its current repurchase authorization. He emphasized that funding organic growth is the top capital priority, with repurchases pursued opportunistically.
Management also noted the leadership transition at finance, with Vogt participating in his final earnings call and Kirk joining for Q&A.
About Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS)
AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides various specialty insurance and reinsurance products in Bermuda, the United States, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Insurance segment offers professional insurance products that cover directors' and officers' liability, errors and omissions, employment practices, fiduciary, crime, professional indemnity, medical malpractice, and other financial insurance related coverages for commercial enterprises, financial institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and other professional service providers; and property insurance products for commercial buildings, residential premises, construction projects, property in transit, onshore renewable energy installations, and physical damage and business interruption following an act of terrorism.
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