Catastrophe and large losses for Fidelis Insurance Group, were $333.3 million in the 2025 first quarter, up $230.3 million compared with the same quarter last year, driven by the California wildfires.

However, in Fidelis’s latest company results, group chief executive officer, Dan Burrows, said the impact of the fires was tracking towards the lower end of their expected range.

The firm reported a net loss of $42.5 million, or $0.38 per diluted share in Q1 2025, and an operating net loss of $45.3 million, or $0.41 per diluted common share, which included losses from the California wildfires of $166.8 million.

“During the first quarter, we capitalised on new business opportunities across the portfolio and delivered 14 per cent top-line growth,” Mr Burrows said.

“The strength of our balance sheet also enabled us to repurchase $42.5 million of common shares year-to-date, which at our current valuation, is highly accretive to our book value.”

In their insurance segment, for the first three months of this year, Fidelis’s gross premiums written increased due to new business opportunities in the firm’s asset backed finance and portfolio credit line of business.

This was driven by new partnerships and business opportunities in their marine line. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in the aviation and aerospace line, primarily due to a contract that was extended and did not renew in the comparable year period.

Underwriting loss for the first quarter of 2025 was $94.5 million and the combined ratio was 115.6 per cent, compared with underwriting income of $69.2 million and a combined ratio of 85.8 per cent for Q1 2024.

Net investment income for the first quarter of 2025 was $49.5 million, compared with $41 million for the same period last year, and the annualised operating return on average equity was 7.6 per cent, compared to 14 per cent in Q1 2024.