ACE Gives Earnings Guidance
Bermuda-based ACE Limited has announced the following earnings guidance for the ACE Group of Companies for the full year 2007:
— Earnings per Common Share are expected to range between $6.65 and $7.15; our current forecast is at the midpoint of this range.
— Property & Casualty Net Earned Premium Growth is expected to average from 3 percent to 5 percent.
— Catastrophe Losses included in our estimated earnings are $450 million pre-tax ($340 million after-tax).
CFO Philip V. Bancroft commented: “We have refined our earnings guidance policy for 2007, moving from a components-based worksheet approach to a range of EPS estimates with assumptions for revenue growth and estimated CAT losses. We believe that this new policy is more direct and provides greater clarity to our annual estimates. We believe this guidance, along with our quarterly earnings discussions and comprehensive disclosure in our Financial Supplement, equips the financial community with tools to make reasonable estimates of ACE’s financial performance.”
Source: ACE Limited