Markel Sees Massive Leap in Profits

Global insurer Markel Corporation has reported an 81% jump in its net income to $582.7 million in 2015 from $321.2 million in 2014, the company announced last week. The earnings spike coincided with a slight drop in its gross written premiums to $4.63 billion in 2015, from $4.8 billion in the year prior. Gross written premiums in the U.S. also declined a smidgen to $2.5 billion in 2015 from $2.49 billion in 2014. The company’s results were buoyed in part by an improving combined ratio in its U.S. insurance business, which includes workers’ compensation, to 89%, down from 95% in 2...