Good morning, and welcome to Fairfax's 2026 first quarter results conference call. Your lines have been placed in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, to ask a question, please press star one on your phone keypad. For time's sake, we ask that you limit your questions to one. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. Your host for today's call is Peter Clarke, with opening remarks from Derek Bulas. Derek, you may begin.
Good morning, welcome to our call to discuss Fairfax's 2026 first quarter results. This call may include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ, perhaps materially, from those contained in such forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of uncertainties and risk factors, the most foreseeable of which are set out under Risk Factors in our base shelf prospectus, which has been filed with Canadian securities regulators and is available on SEDAR+. Fairfax disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities law. I'll now turn the call over to our President and COO, Peter Clarke.
Thank you, Derek. Good morning and welcome to Fairfax's 2026 first quarter conference call. I plan to give you some highlights and then pass the call to Wade Burton, our President and Chief Investment Officer of Hamblin Watsa, to comment on investments, and Amy Sherk, our Chief Financial Officer, to provide some additional financial details. We had a great start to 2026, with operating income from our insurance and reinsurance companies adjusted to an undiscounted basis and before risk margin of CAD 1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up from CAD 686 million in the first quarter of 2025.
All components of our operating income were strong and up significantly from the first quarter of 2025. Underwriting income was CAD 382 million, interest and dividend income of CAD 561 million, and our profits of associates were CAD 271 million. In the quarter, we had net losses on investments of CAD 386 million, primarily mark-to-market losses on bonds versus net gains on investments of CAD 1.1 billion in the first quarter of 2025. That's a swing of almost CAD 1.5 billion quarter-over-quarter. As we have always said, we expect investment gains to perform well over the long term but will fluctuate quarter to quarter.
Our net earnings for the first quarter of 2026 were CAD 696 million. All in, our book value per share at the end of the first quarter was 1,250, up 0.5% from year-end 2025, adjusted for our CAD 15 dividend. During the quarter, we purchased 375,000 shares for cancellation for CAD 631 million. We expect to close two significant transactions in the second quarter of 2026. The sale of half our position at Poseidon for CAD 1.9 billion, a pre-tax gain of approximately CAD 837 million, and the sale of Eurolife's life operations for approximately CAD 935 million for a pre-tax gain of approximately CAD 350 million.
In February of 2026, the special committee of Kennedy Wilson accepted the CAD 10.90 per share offer from Bill McMorrow and us to take the company private, a 46% premium to the price it traded prior to the offer. We are waiting regulatory and shareholder approvals. We expect to close the transaction sometime in the second quarter. With conflict in Iran, unfortunately, members of the Fairfax family again find themselves in harm's way. GIG management is ensuring all employees in the Gulf region have the support that they need to stay safe. This is our first priority. It is still uncertain how long this will last.
Gulf continues to operate as usual under these most difficult conditions. Losses related to this conflict have been minimal. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the employees at Gulf. I will now give you some additional detail on the components of our net earnings for the quarter. Our consolidated investment return was 0.8%, driven by interest and dividend income, strong profits of associates, offset by net losses on investments, again, primarily on mark-to-market losses on our bonds.
Consolidated interest and dividend income of CAD 662 million was up 9% year-over-year, benefiting from our growing investment portfolio. Profits of associates of $371 million in the quarter was driven by Eurobank, the Waterous Energy Fund, and Poseidon. Our associate companies continue to post very solid, stable results. In the quarter, we had net losses on investments of CAD 386 million from mark-to-market losses on our bond portfolio, primarily from U.S. Treasuries due to the increase in interest rates in the first quarter, and losses on equity exposures of CAD 82 million.
Offset by other net gains of CAD 60 million, primarily gains on foreign exchange, offset by mark-to-market losses on our preferred shares in Digit. The net loss of CAD 82 million on our equity and equity-related holdings were driven by unrealized losses on Fairfax TRS of CAD 342 million, offset by net gains on Orla and Strathcona. As I said earlier, and please remember, our net gains or losses on investments only make sense over the long term and will fluctuate from quarter to quarter, or for that matter, year to year. More on investments from Wade.
As I mentioned in previous quarters, our book value per share of 1,250 does not include unrealized gains or losses in our equity accounted investments and our consolidated investments, which are not mark to market. At the end of the first quarter, the fair value of these securities is in excess of carrying value by CAD 3.9 billion in unrealized gain position or CAD 190 per share on a pre-tax basis. This is a significant increase from a year ago at CAD 67 per share and year-end 2025 at CAD 150 per share.
In the first quarter, net earnings included a CAD 184 million unrealized loss due to increasing interest rates in the quarter. This consisted of unrealized losses on our bonds of CAD 364 million, as I previously mentioned, offset by the increase in discount under IFRS 17 on our insurance and reinsurance reserves of $180 million. For the first quarter of 2025, this number was a net gain of CAD 120 million. Our insurance and reinsurance businesses wrote CAD 8.7 billion of gross premium in the first quarter of 2026, up 4.1% versus the first quarter of 2025.
Our North American Insurance segment's gross premium was relatively flat year-over-year, decreasing CAD 18 million, or less than 1% from the first quarter of 2025 due to a softening insurance market. Crum & Forster's premium was down 2.7%, driven by its surplus and specialty segment and Seneca's property business, offset by increases in its accident and health business. Northbridge's gross premium was down 4.8% in CAD, reflecting a competitive marketplace. In US dollar, its premium was down only 0.4% due to the strengthening of the Canadian dollar.
Zenith Premiums were up 10% for the first quarter of 2026 due to earned rate increases and new business in workers' compensation. Our global insurer and reinsurer segment was up 2.5%, with gross premiums of CAD 4.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026 over the first quarter of 2025. Allied World's premium was up 3.7% in the quarter, with gross premiums of CAD 2.2 billion. Their reinsurance segment was up 10.4% from new and renewal business, most notably crop.
While its global insurance premium was down 2.6%, primarily from its North American insurance segment, offset by growth in its global market segment. Odyssey's premiums were down 1.2% in the first quarter of 2026, with gross premium written of CAD 1.5 billion. Its U.S. reinsurance business was the driver of the decrease, primarily due to property treaty, reflecting reinstatement premiums from the first quarter of 2025 on the California wildfire losses that did not reoccur in 2026. Its insurance business at Hudson and Newline was relatively flat.
Brit's gross premium was CAD 810 million, up 3.8% in the first quarter of 2026 versus the first quarter of 2025. Excluding California wildfire reinstatement premium in the first quarter, gross premium was up 6.8%. Over half the growth came from the recent expansion of its Brit Re platform in Bermuda. Ki, the algorithmic follow-on Lloyd's syndicate developed within Brit, is in its second year operating as a standalone business. Ki's gross premiums was up 11.7% in the first quarter of 2026, driven by property treaty, casualty business, offset by open market North American property.
Ki announced in the first quarter it is adding a fifth capacity partner to its platform that will begin in the second quarter of 2026. Our international insurance and reinsurance operations gross premiums were $1.7 billion, up 16.4% in the first quarter of 2026 versus the first quarter of 2025, benefiting from high single-digit underlying growth and favorable movements of foreign exchange. Gulf was up 30% in the quarter. Brit up 28%. Fairfax Latam 9%, and Fairfax Central and Eastern Europe up 17%.
Fairfax Asia gross premiums was up 3% year-over-year, and on a net basis was up 31%, with reduced sessions due to a new reinsurance program implemented in 2026. International operations currently account for about 20% of our overall gross premiums. Looking ahead, these operations offer strong long-term potential for sustained growth thanks to skilled management teams, emerging insurance markets and robust local economies.
Our combined ratio was 94.1% in the first quarter, with underwriting income of CAD 382 million, compared to 98.5% combined ratio and underwriting income of CAD 97 million in the first quarter of 2025. The big driver of the difference year-over-year was lower catastrophe losses in the first quarter of 2026, with approximately 1.8 combined ratio points versus 12.7 points on the combined ratio in the first quarter of 2025, primarily from the California wildfire losses. This was offset by lower prior year favorable development in the quarter over last year.
Our global insurers and reinsurers posted a combined ratio of 92.5%. Odyssey Group led the way with a combined ratio of 91.1%. Brit's combined ratio was 93%. Allied World had a combined ratio of 93.4%. Ki's combined ratio was 94.7%. That included 3.8 points of separation costs. Our North American insurers had a combined ratio of 96% for the quarter. Northbridge had a combined ratio of 94.1%. Crum & Forster had underwriting income of CAD 52 million for a combined ratio of 95.5%.
While our Zenith, our workers' compensation specialist, who are dealing with the effects of multiple years of price decreases in the workers' compensation space, although this is reversing, had an elevated combined ratio of 103.7%, trending down from the first quarter of 2025 of 106.3%. Our international operations delivered a combined ratio of 95.8% for the quarter, with underwriting income of CAD 46 million, with all our international segments producing underwriting income. Colonnade in Eastern Europe had an excellent combined ratio of 89.8%.
Bryte continues to produce strong results with a combined ratio of 94.9%. Fairfax Asia had a combined ratio of 96.3%, led by Singapore Re at 85%. Gulf Insurance, the largest company in our international operations, got off to a good start in 2026 with a combined ratio of 95.9% in the first quarter, notwithstanding the difficult conditions from the war in Ukraine. In the first quarter, our insurance and reinsurance companies recorded favorable reserve development of $86 million, or a benefit of 1.3 points on our combined ratio.
Each of our major segments recorded favorable reserve development. We are focused on setting our ongoing reserves at conservative levels, especially on long tail lines. Through our decentralized operations, our insurance and reinsurance companies continue to produce strong results, writing annualized gross premium of over CAD 33 billion, with underlying margins remaining attractive in the main, in spite of softening rates. In certain lines, it is becoming more competitive.
We benefit from our size and scale, and more importantly, we have exceptional long-term management teams that are all focused on the bottom line and have the experience to manage the cyclical nature of the insurance business. I will now pass the call to Wade Burton, our President and Chief Investment Officer of Hamblin Watsa, to comment on our investments.
Thank you, Peter. Good morning. March 31st, 2026, ends another good quarter on the investment side. Performance continues to be excellent. Equities are up 2.9% on the quarter, 28.9% for the last 12 months, and 20.5% through t hree years. Similarly, our bonds have outperformed up 0.3% on the quarter, 5.6% for the last 12 months, and 4.9% through three years. Our fixed income portfolio is safe and earning strong interest income, our public equities, associates, and consolidated non-insurance investments continue to perform well.
We ended the quarter with CAD 49.8 billion in fixed income investments and CAD 26.6 billion in equity and equity exposed investments. The fixed income portfolio includes CAD 5.6 billion in mortgages, CAD 6 billion in corporates, all very short-term, mainly investment-grade and no, I'll repeat, zero traditional private credit exposure, and CAD 38.2 billion in government bonds and treasuries. Duration is 2.2 years. Average maturity is three years. Our yield is approximately 5%. A lot of safety and flexibility is built into the fixed income portfolio, which is our response to the playing field as it sits.
The economic and interest environment has many conflicting factors, so we're playing it safe, keeping lots of flexibility, and making a good return as we wait. As I said, we have CAD 26.6 billion invested in common shares, equity and associates, consolidated non-insurance equity investments, and preferred shares. All doing well, especially the bigger investments. Peter already discussed the Poseidon sale. Otherwise, it was a quiet quarter, so I thought it would be a good quarter to give a discussion about how we look at investments in publicly traded common stocks versus investing in private companies.
The underlying process is the same. We work to uncover true economic profits and or profit capacity. We think about where those profits are going. We focus on balance sheet and balance sheet flexibility. We think about the price we pay for those profits. The same underlying process for both public and for private. In both cases, we know management is a key factor. As Buffett pointed out, a great manager can't save a leaky boat, but what we have learned is that they make a huge difference paddling boats that do float.
The advantages of buying public common stocks is one, the ability to capitalize on the moods of the stock market and two, liquidity. The ability to enter and exit an investment quickly is a good thing. The advantages of making direct investments in private companies is we control the profits. That is, we can choose to reinvest the profits in the businesses we've invested in, or we can take the profits out and invest them elsewhere. In general, the flexibility to invest in either public or private companies is a huge advantage for us. It allows us to be opportunistic, agnostic, and truly seek the best possible investments.
For example, today, with the Shiller PE at all-time highs, you would not expect we'd find a lot of fifty cent dollars in the stock market, and we aren't. We have been able to make outstanding acquisitions on the private side, including Meadow, Peak, and Sleep Country. We have the advantage of a history of being terrific long-term partners. 40 years of fair and friendly transactions with a long line of very happy partners, along with permanent no call capital, makes us an attractive home for many companies.
To do all of this well takes a skilled and focused investment team, and I'm so proud of the team we've built over the last 10 or 15 years. Our people are decision-makers. They are analysts and value investors. We have skilled defensive players and skilled offensive players. All have experience in public and private investments. You know, having the independence to make decisions is so important, and they're all doing it. We call them in where we need them on the bigger investments.
With that, it is amazing to watch them come together as a group. Having this team in place is especially important now, given how big and globally spread out we are and how big we hope and plan to be in the next 50 years. I will now turn the call over to Amy Sherk, our CFO.
Thank you, Wade. I'll begin my comments by discussing some of our key transactions. On March 9th, 2026, AGT completed a CAD 450 million offering of its common shares at CAD 23 per share. Immediately prior to closing of the offering, Fairfax exercised its AGT equity warrants at CAD 22.50 per common share for aggregate consideration of CAD 340 million in exchange for settlement of a CAD 340 million loan receivable from AGT. Concurrent with closing, the company also acquired CAD 200 in AGT common shares in a private placement for CAD 23 per share.
The company's ownership in AGT was diluted from 66% - 56% as a result of these transactions, and we therefore continue to control AGT. The following three transactions were already discussed by Peter, so I will just provide some additional details. On March 10, 2026, the company announced that it entered into agreements to sell an aggregate equity interest of approximately 23.1% of Poseidon for aggregate proceeds of approximately CAD 1.9 billion. Following the sale, Fairfax will retain an equity ownership of approximately 22.2% of Poseidon.
The pre-tax gain on closing is estimated to be CAD 837 million, and the company expects to continue to apply the equity method of accounting to its investment in the common shares of Poseidon following the sale. On October 13, 2025, the company announced that it had entered into a term sheet with Eurobank, pursuant to which Eurobank will acquire the company's 80% equity interest in the life insurance operations of Eurolife for cash consideration of approximately CAD 935 million or EUR 813 million. The estimated pre-tax gain on closing is approximately CAD 350 million.
Accordingly, the company continues to classify assets of CAD 3.3 billion and liabilities of CAD 3.5 billion related to Eurolife life operations as held for sale at March 31, 2026. On February 16, 2026, the company and Kennedy Wilson entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Kennedy Wilson will be acquired in an all-cash transaction by a consortium led by certain senior executives of Kennedy Wilson together with the company. The consortium will acquire all outstanding common shares of Kennedy Wilson not already owned for CAD 10.90 per share in cash.
The company has committed to providing the consortium with funding of up to CAD 1.65 billion, principally to fund the transaction's cash purchase price. These transactions are expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. A few comments on our non-insurance company results in the first quarter of 2026.
Non-insurance companies reported operating income of CAD 37 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to an operating loss of CAD 41 million in the first quarter of 2025, primarily reflecting strong share of profit of associates at Fairfax India, partially offset by non-recurring expenses at AGT related to its initial public offering in the first quarter of 2026. Our non-insurance companies, including Sleep Country, Recipe, Dexterra, Meadow and Peak, continued to perform well in the first quarter of 2026.
Looking at our share of profit from investments in associates, we reported increased consolidated share of profit of associates of CAD 372 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to CAD 129 million in the first quarter of 2025. Share of profit in the first quarter of 2026 principally reflected share of profit of CAD 129 million from Eurobank, CAD 117 million from the Waterous Energy Fund III, and CAD 77 million from Poseidon. I will close with a few comments on our financial condition.
Maintaining an emphasis on financial soundness at March 31, 2026, the company held CAD 2.5 billion of cash and investments at the holding company, had only CAD 300 million drawn from its CAD 2 billion unsecured revolving credit facility, and an additional CAD 2.1 billion at fair value of investments in associates and market-traded consolidated non-insurance companies owned by the holding company. Holding company cash and investments support the company's decentralized structure and enable the company to deploy capital efficiently to its insurance and reinsurance companies.
At March 31, 2026, the excess of fair value over carrying value of investments in non-insurance associates and market-traded consolidated non-insurance subsidiaries was CAD 3.9 billion compared to CAD 3.1 billion at December 31, 2025, with the increase principally related to the announced sale of 23.1% of the company's investment in Poseidon, which we have already talked about. The pre-tax excess of CAD 3.9 billion is not reflected in the company's book value per share but is regularly reviewed by management as an indicator of investment performance.
The company's consolidated total debt to total capital ratio, excluding non-insurance companies, increased to 27.8% at March 31, 2026, compared to 26.2% at December 31, 2025, reflecting increased total debt principally due to the issuances of unsecured senior notes of $476.6 million or CAD 650 million in February 2026 and decreased common shareholders' equity. Subsequent to March 31, 2026, on April 15, the company redeemed at maturity $91.8 million principal amount of its 8.3% unsecured senior notes.
On April 29, 2026, the company announced its intention to redeem on May 29, 2026, all of its outstanding CAD 450 million principal amounts of 4.7% unsecured senior notes, which are due on Dec ember 16, 2026. Common shareholders' equity decreased to CAD 25.8 billion at March 31, 2026, from CAD 26.3 billion at December 31, 2025, primarily reflecting purchases of about 375,000 subordinate voting shares for cancellation for cash consideration of CAD 631 million or CAD 1,684 per share, payment of common share dividends of CAD 329 million, and other comprehensive loss of CAD 227 million, primarily related to unrealized foreign currency translation losses net of hedges due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against various currencies.
The company does view these unrealized foreign currency movements as market fluctuations similar to our unrealized gains and losses on its equity and fixed income portfolios. This was all partially offset by our net earnings attributable to shareholders of Fairfax of CAD 696 million. Lastly, book value per share was CAD 12.54 at March 31, 2026, compared to CAD 12.69 at December 31, 2025, representing an increase per basic share in the first quarter of 2026 of 0.5%, adjusted to include the CAD 15 per common share dividend paid in the first quarter. That concludes my remarks for the first quarter of 2026, and I'll turn it back to Peter Clarke.
Thank you, Amy. Denise, we are now happy to take any questions that you might have.
Thank you. At this time, we will start the Q&A session. The first question today does come from Stephen Boland with Raymond James. Your line is open.
Good morning. Peter, I guess this is for you. I know you addressed this at the annual meeting and some of the events around that. Just wanna talk a little bit about softness. When I look at the premium that was reported between the North American and international this quarter, flat for North America, a little bit up in international. Is that the dynamic we're seeing?
What is the messaging going to the subsidiaries from head office? Is it just intuitive that the subsidiaries, you know, are beginning to avoid, you know, where, you know, price, you know, pricing that just isn't profitable down the line. Is there any messaging coming from the head office on that or you'll, you know, you let the subsidiaries do what they do?
No, that's a good question. I think, just to start off, there really doesn't have to be any messaging to our companies. They're very experienced, and they've managed through cycles before. It's very clear we're all on the same page, that underwriting profit is the focus, and underwriting discipline. There's no, if you need to reduce your premium and pricing is inadequate, that's totally fine from us. We take a long-term approach, long-term view. We're building the company over the long term. I think, the company, the presidents all do the right thing. All are focused on underwriting profit. That message is very clear from Fairfax as well. Thank you, Stephen. Next question, please.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Tom MacKinnon with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Yeah, thanks very much and good morning. Just a question with respect to Gulf. Net premiums written in 2025 were, in fact, flat to modestly down versus 2024. We got a spike up here in the first quarter of 2026. Is there any more color you can share with us? I noticed that you've been increasing retention with respect to Gulf as well. You know, are there any concerns here about increasing re-retention in an area where there's, you know, heightened risk as well? If you can provide any kind of more color on that, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
Sure. For Gulf, 2025 premiums were down. I think we disclosed that they lost a large health contract in Kuwait at the end of 2024, which affected their premiums in 2025. That treaty in particular, they did cede a lot of business. You know, they only retained a portion of the business. That affected, you know, their net retention. Coming into 2026 off a lower base, they are expanding again in the accident health business, and it's coming off a lower base. You know, partly responsible for the net retention increasing. It's really driven by that one large contract that wasn't renewed in late 2024. Next question, please.
The next question comes from Bart Dziarski with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Great. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Wanted to ask around the Poseidon transaction. Congrats on the announcement there. Just hoping you can give us some more color in terms of, you know, why now, why sell a portion and not the whole stake, what you expect to do with the proceeds once the transaction closes. Thanks.
No, thanks for the question, Bart. Yeah. Poseidon, it has been an excellent investment for us. I think we first invested around 2018, and our compounded annual return was 25% per year. Our cost was about CAD 950, CAD 10. We carried it at CAD 15.50, I believe. We sold half the position for CAD 28.30. Had a very nice gain, CAD 837 million. We're very happy to hold the remaining 22%. Our partner, O-N-E, that took it public or private, sorry, last year, was wanting to increase its ownership. We were fine selling about half of our position. Next question please.
The next question is from Jaeme Gloyn with National Bank Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Just want to quickly touch on the reserves and development this quarter. Looks like a little bit of a step down from this time last year and sort of the pacing that we've been seeing. Can you talk to both a little bit more detail on perhaps what's driving that? Is there a shift in how you're looking at the portfolio? Just wanna sort of understand that trajectory, if it's at these levels or if this is sort of a little bit of a one-off.
I think, Jaeme, I think when we look at reserves, first quarter is not really a big quarter for us to move reserves. You know, in the fourth quarter, We do a thorough reserve analysis, actuarial review of all our reserves. Most of the actions are taken in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter, it's usually a lower movement on the reserves than others. I think maybe last year, the favorable development was higher than normally expected. You know, quarter to quarter, especially in the first half of the year, I wouldn't really put any real focus on that number. Next question, please.
That comes from Tom MacKinnon with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Okay, thanks. Peter, you note a bit of a shift here in terms of more premium growth coming out of international, I guess, than the North American and the global insurers and reinsurers. Obviously the international running at around a 96 combined and the rest of the North American and global reinsurers running around 93. As you kind of shift more of the business into the 96 combined versus the 93 combined, how do you feel about this CAD one and a half billion dollar outlook for underwriting profit going forward?
No, you're right. There has been a, you know, in this quarter at least and, there's been a shift between the mix of business, between, you know, our larger companies, which are primarily, you know, a large portion of their business comes from North America. That's really where we're seeing the softening of rates, and it's much more competitive. As you said, we don't see as much growth there. They were about 1.5% for that. The larger companies, they were up 1.5% in the first quarter. Our international operations, where they're not seeing the price decreases as much, more attractive business.
We would hope that, you know, the combined ratio will drop over time. Gulf Insurance Group, for example, they're still running a little bit above 95, but historically they've run below 95, low 90s. I think we'll see that combined ratio for the international group continue to go down as well, helping the overall mix of business. We write about CAD 33 billion now and we benefit from that greatly. Like I said, 80% is still with our larger companies, but that 20% of international business, it's about CAD 6.5 billion of premium, and that's quite significant. It gives us the scale and diversity to manage these cycles. Next question, please.
Thank you. We currently have no questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one.
Denise, if there are no further questions, thank you for joining us on our first quarter conference call. Thank you very much.
Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect and have a great rest of your day.