Hurricane Michael and wildfires in California impacted fourth-quarter results for PartnerRe, which has reported a loss of $32 million.

The hurricane and wildfires created losses of $282 million for the Bermudian-based reinsurer, which was partially offset by net realised and unrealised investment gains on fixed maturities and short-term investments of $31 million, and net foreign exchange gains of $66 million.

In the corresponding quarter in 2017, which included $120 million of losses related to California wildfires, the reinsurer achieved a profit of $72 million.

For the full year, PartnerRe suffered a loss of $132 million, driven by catastrophe losses of $386 million related to typhoons Jebi and Trami, hurricanes Florence and Michael, and the California wildfires.

The company’s property and casualty combined ratio for the quarter was 120.1 per cent, and 108.7 per cent for the year.

Life and health profitability, including underwriting result and allocated net investment income was $86 million for the year, an improvement of 26 per cent year-on-year.

Emmanuel Clarke, president and chief executive officer, said: “The third and fourth quarters of 2018 were active periods of catastrophic loss events which impacted the company’s non-life combined ratio.

“In the face of another year of above normal insured catastrophic loss activity for the industry, PartnerRe was able to deliver once again a profit, excluding the volatility of our investment grade fixed income portfolio and the foreign exchange impact, thanks to our diversified and profitable book of business and our gross-to-net strategy.”

He added: “We are seeing increasing opportunities to deploy our capital at our target return across our portfolio and the 2019 year has started on a positive note, with strong execution at the January renewals where we reported double-digit year-on-year growth in non-life premium production with improved margins across several classes and geographies. With further improvement in margins expected throughout the year, I am confident that we will continue to build on these achievements, alongside our expected continued growth in life and health and improved income generation in our investments portfolio, to deliver solid returns to our shareholder in 2019.”