Hurricanes up Hannover Re losses

The US has had the worst hurricane season since records began

Reinsurance giant Hannover Re has seen its losses jump sharply due to the damage caused by the recent hurricanes Wilma, Rita and Katrina in the US.

For its third quarter to the end of September, the German firm made a net loss of 184.2m euros ($216.2m; £124m).

That compared to a loss of 20.4m euros for the same time last year, much worse than market expectations of 48m euros.

Hannover Re says the cost of the hurricanes means it is now likely to only break even for 2005 as a whole.

'Severe impact'

It said the hurricanes had had "an extraordinarily severe toll" on its third quarter results.

Hannover Re's quarterly revenues, or more specifically, its gross written premiums, were up slightly to 2.5bn euros from 2.38bn euros a year earlier.

Its chief executive Wilhelm Zeller said the company remained in good shape and that "the chances of quickly recouping our strains from the current year are good".

Fellow reinsurance giant Swiss Re estimated earlier this month that the damage caused by hurricanes Wilma, Rita and Katrina will cost the global insurance industry $60bn (£34bn) in total.