Carl H. Lindner III and S. Craig Lindner, AFG’s Co-Chief Executive Officers, issued this statement: “AFG’s financial performance during the fourth quarter was exceptional. Record core operating results produced an annualized fourth quarter return on equity of 28.1%. We are very pleased with the outstanding underwriting margins produced by our Specialty P&C businesses and returns in our portfolio of alternative investments that continued to exceed our expectations. Our diversified portfolio of specialty insurance operations, an entrepreneurial culture and disciplined operating philosophy have positioned us well in a hard P&C market and an improving economy.
“AFG had approximately $2.1 billion of excess capital (including parent company cash and investments of approximately $1.86 billion) at December 31, 2021. Returning capital to shareholders in the form of regular and special cash dividends and through opportunistic share repurchases is an important and effective component of our capital management strategy. In addition, our excess capital will be deployed into AFG’s core businesses as we identify potential for healthy, profitable organic growth, and opportunities to expand our specialty niche businesses through acquisitions and start-ups that meet our target return thresholds. Over the past year, we increased our quarterly dividend by 12% and paid special dividends of $26.00 per share. Total growth in adjusted book value plus dividends was a very strong 34%. We are very proud of our track record of creating long-term value for our shareholders.”
Messrs. Lindner continued, “We expect AFG’s core net operating earnings in 2022 to be in the range of $9.75 to $10.75 per share. Our core earnings per share guidance excludes non-core items such as realized gains and losses and other significant items that are not able to be estimated with reasonable precision, or that may not be indicative of ongoing operations. Furthermore, the above guidance reflects an annual return of approximately 10% on alternative investments and an average crop year.”
Property and Casualty Insurance Operations
Pretax core operating earnings in AFG’s P&C Insurance Segment were a record $485 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to $274 million in the prior year period, an increase of $211 million, or 77%. The year-over-year improvement was the result of significantly higher P&C underwriting profit and substantially higher P&C net investment income, primarily due to higher earnings from alternative investments.
The Specialty P&C insurance operations generated record underwriting profit of $281 million for the 2021 fourth quarter compared to $179 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, primarily due to higher year-over-year underwriting profitability in our Specialty Casualty and Property and Transportation Groups.
The fourth quarter 2021 combined ratio was an exceptionally strong 80.7%, an improvement of 5.5 points year-over-year, and includes 5.0 points of favorable prior year reserve development, compared to 2.4 points of favorable prior year reserve development in the 2020 fourth quarter. Catastrophe losses added 1.8 points to the combined ratio in the 2021 fourth quarter, compared to 1.5 points in the comparable prior year period.
AFG recorded $2 million in losses related to COVID-19 for accident year 2021 in the fourth quarter of 2021 and recorded favorable reserve development of approximately $7 million related to accident year 2020 COVID-19 reserves based on loss experience. Given the uncertainties surrounding the ultimate number and scope of claims relating to the pandemic, approximately 61% of the $92 million in AFG’s cumulative COVID-19 related losses are held as incurred but not reported (IBNR) reserves at December 31, 2021.
Gross and net written premiums were up 2% and 4%, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2021, when compared to the same period in 2020. Fourth quarter growth was impacted by timing differences in the recording of premiums in our Property and Transportation Group. Excluding those adjustments, each of
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